Thoughts on Apple TV Rumors
A couple days ago Apple rumor king Mark Gurman reported on some specific features of the new Apple TV. There's weren't any huge surprises, but we do have a pretty clear picture of what the new Apple TV will be.
My first big takeaway is with the suggestion that Apple will sell 8GB and 16GB models for $149 and $199 respectively. The current Apple TV comes in a single 8GB model, which is enough storage to hold the preinstalled apps and cache streaming video. If this new Apple TV has storage options, I think that's a pretty clear indicator that there will be an app store and there will be games you can download onto the device.
Second, I think the new remote with a combination of tactile buttons, a touchpad, and motion sensors sounds really great (best of all worlds), but battery life will be greatly reduced. I suspect there will be some sort of rechargeable battery in the remote. My dream would be that the remote has wireless charging similar to the Apple Watch, but you charge it by resting it on top of the Apple TV itself.
Finally, if the rumors are true that the Apple TV will be using an A8 chip to power everything, I don't think that video game makers have much to worry about in the short run. The iPhone has many great games, but most of them are time-wasters that lack depth. These limitations are in part due to the restrictive control methods as well as the storage and processing capabilities of the devices they're played on. Video games on the PS4, Xbox One, and Wii U are completely different beasts in large part due to the technical freedoms they are afforded. This week's biggest release, Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain clocks in as a 25.1 GB download and has amazing visuals. A 16GB hard drive and a mobile phone's processor simple cannot compete at this level.
I really love my Apple TV and do plan on getting a new one when they are made available because most things about it sound great. I do think that those who say the Apple TV is going to doom the rest of the video game market are completely off base.