What Would a "Revolutionary" Apple TV Experience Include?

It's hard to say what Steve Jobs actually mean by “I finally cracked it” when referring to the issue of television experience and appliances, the latter being extremely important for Apple, whose business is selling appliances that disrupt and dramatically improve end user experience.

The answer to the question also is important to the rest of the video entertainment ecosystem as well, as entertainment television could represent the next big growth opportunity not only for Apple, but a huge risk of ecosystem change for nearly every part of the TV business ecosystem.

Was Jobs referring to some new software and navigation method only? Did he mean some new relationship with the content producing part of the ecosystem? Or did he mean some change in TV design and hardware, or some combination of all of those elements?

BTIG Research believes that “cracking” television would entail tying together computer, mobile devices and the living room TV, along with its cloud-based storage system (iCloud). 


Some might argue integrating online and video TV subscription services, to unify the content experience, would be part of the experience. Some might argue that is an interesting first step, but only a half step.


The big awaiting revolution is creation of a "fun and easy to use" experience that allows consumers to watch what they want, when they want it, program by program, without having to buy whole channels they never watch, and do not want.