What's Really Next for Apple in Television
“I've finally cracked it!” Steven P. Jobs, co-founder of Apple, told his biographer, Walter Isaacson. — Although Mr. Jobs was referring to Apple's plans to build a full-fledged television, he was not actually referring to the TV set …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Isaacson biography excerpt lands six days after the Washington Post reported Jobs's final plan for an 'integrated' Apple TV, and more than a year after Bits flagged Apple's 2010 attempt to re-enter the living room with the second-generation set-top box. The 'I've finally cracked it' line is the first first-person confirmation from Jobs himself that the effort had moved past the hobby-box stage.
The claim is explicitly rumored rather than settled — Jobs was referring to a full-fledged television but 'not actually referring to the TV set,' leaving open whether the breakthrough is hardware or an interface layer. AppleInsider's same-day pickup ran with the most concrete reading in circulation: a Siri-powered television expected by 2013, tying the project directly to the voice assistant Apple shipped with the iPhone 4S this month.
First-order effects
- TV networks and cable operators suddenly face the prospect of Apple as a direct negotiating counterparty for living-room distribution, not just a set-top-box licensee — the outcome the 2010 re-entry attempt never achieved.
- Siri becomes the presumptive interface for whatever Apple ships next in television, extending a feature launched on the iPhone 4S days earlier into a new product category.
Second-order effects
- If Apple's play is software and integration rather than panels, incumbent TV makers keep their manufacturing role but risk being reduced to commodity hardware beneath an Apple interface layer.
- Content owners gain leverage either way: an Apple television needs programming deals, which lets networks price access to the living room higher than they could against the existing set-top box alone.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the television stops being a channel bundle delivered through a box and becomes an app-and-voice platform, with control of the interface — not the screen — deciding who owns the customer relationship.
- A credible Apple entry would push every consumer electronics and pay-TV player toward integrated, assistant-driven interfaces, making voice the default battleground for the living room.
The trend: Apple is working to convert its set-top-box beachhead into a full television platform, with Siri positioned as the interface that finally cracks the living room.