In addition to calling out bloggers and lying developers, CEO Steve Jobs provided insight into his Apple TV hobby and the connected television space at the All Things D (D8) conference earlier this week. Engadget did a nice job with an on-the-fly transcription from the event (below), but I highly recommend watching the video above – which fills in some gaps.
The market challenges and premium television provider chokehold Jobs describes should be familiar to most ZNF readers. But does his talk foreshadow something like Engadget’s iPad-esque Apple TV reboot or Techcrunch’s Apple television?
7:54PM Q: Hi, I’m from Hillcrest Labs… do you think it’s time to throw out the interface for TV? When will Apple do something there?
A: The problem with innovation in the TV industry is the go to market strategy. The TV industry has a subsidized model that gives everyone a set top box for free. So no one wants to buy a box. Ask TiVo, ask Roku, ask us… ask Google in a few months.
7:56PM Steve: So all you can do is ADD a box to the TV. You just end up with a table full of remotes, a cluster of boxes… and that’s what we have today. The only way that’s going to change is if you tear up the set top box, give it a new UI, and get it in front of consumers in a way they’re going to want it. The TV is going to lose in our eyes until there is a better go to market strategy… otherwise you’re just making another TiVo.
7:57PM Q: In the phone area you were able to partner with a carrier… would you do that with TV?
A: Well then there’s a problem, providers are local… it’s a Tower of Babel problem…