The Multiverse
Would Apple TV/iTV driven by iOS be a redefinition of the desktop, the way iPad has redefined the portable computer?
There’s Magic on the Desktop, Nick Belton wrote for the New York Times. It was a review of Apple’s latest offering— the Magic Trackpad. The trackpad as Belton described it, looked like “a silver Kitchen tile than a mouse.” This magic of course brings multi-touch gestures, which is found on Apple’s iOS devices like iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch as well as the company’s Macbook and Macbook Pro offerings to the company’s other machines— the desktop.
The San Jose Mercury News reviewer Troy Wolverton gives Magic Trackpad a 4.5/5 rating, calling it a “winner” and noting that it “could give other desktop users a good reason to finally ditch their mice.” He concludes, “I like the Magic Trackpad a lot and hope it will spark imitators on the PC side.
Simply, put the mouse is intended to slowly going to fade away and this trackpad is the first to get it off. That’s not it though. That’s not enough.
That’s not the only significant material that goes with the trackpad. For months, Apple TV has been rumored for a revamp. According to this Engadget piece, the next Apple TV will be based on iPhone technologies— A4 chip that drives the phone will be on Apple TV. It will run iOS, which runs on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. That latter part is significant. If this device can run on iOS, then it should run the same iOS apps found on those products as well as a great media experience. Meaning, the games found on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch should work with Apple TV. The Apps that run on iPad should work on that gorgeous widescreen television that you hook Apple TV into.
How do you control it all?
Multi-touch.
Think about it. Magic Trackpad coupled with Apple TV— or as Engadget is now saying, a name change back to iTV, would be the kicker. And note, it will gain apps. Ergo, Games. Ergo Game Center and Farmville and all the content found on Apple’s App Store.
Add Apple’s wireless bluetooth keyboard— which works great with iPad, and couple it with Apple TV or iTV and Apple’s iWork productivity suite for iOS and you’ll have a computer that’s not a computer. If iPad is a redefinition of the portable computer, iTV or Apple TV– if rumor and speculation hold true is a redefinition of the desktop PC. It’s the set top box PCs have been trying for years and have failed.
Google TV will be nothing.
Image of Apple TV and screenshots, Courtesy of Apple
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