Apple TV Gains New Prominence in Apple Online Store with Valentine's Day ... - Mac Rumors

Apple's storefront went offline last night and returned with a new Valentine's Day theme featuring accents of red and a handpicked shopping guide for gift buyers. Holiday graphics replace the standard stock product photos and updated captions like "Love is in the Air" promote Apple's top products for the Valentine's Day shoppers.

Perhaps the most important update is the new promotion of the Apple TV at the top of the Online Store, giving it similar prominence to Apple's Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod lines. The new placement for the Apple TV suggests that it's moving out of the "hobby" status that Apple executives have long assigned it.

Previously, the Apple TV was relegated to the iPod section. Last week, it was rumored that Apple was considering adding game support with Bluetooth controllers and a new App Store to the Apple TV, possibly as soon as March.

New (Top) and Old Apple Online Store Carousel


Apple has revised its shipping estimates with updated information for those shopping for gifts ahead of Valentine's Day. All products, with the exception of the Mac Pro, currently are in stock and will arrive with free shipping in time for the holiday if ordered before February 5th. Deadlines for 2-3 day shipping and next-day shipping are February 10 and 11, respectively. Engraved items require additional processing and must be ordered one day earlier.

This advertising campaign extends to the company's Apple Store app (iTunes link), which was updated with similar holiday graphics and a curated list of the "Top Valentine's Gifts." The Apple TV gets prominent placement in the app as well, appearing on the home screen just below the iPhone 5s and 5c.

Update: Apple is testing a much improved version of the Apple TV that would utilize existing iOS devices as game controllers, according to a report from 9to5Mac, and the company is also considering combining the Apple TV and AirPort Express products, testing a combined Apple TV and 802.11ac wireless router in order to ensure higher-quality streaming.

The site also says Apple is testing an Apple TV device that can control users' existing cable boxes with an Apple user interface overlaying their existing content. It was reported last year that Apple was in negotiations with cable companies and TV networks to allow customers to skip commercials on recorded shows and Apple would compensate programmers for the lost revenue. The company has also been looking to "erase the distinction" between live and on-demand video content.

Apple has long been rumored to have an improved Apple TV in the works, though there have been a number of conflicting reports over what the device will include. Apple has repeatedly said that it has has a number of new products in the works for 2014, most recently during its quarterly earnings call with analysts yesterday.

Thanks Alan!

Related roundup: Apple TV

Just restore the ability to play iTunes Extras for movies like the original Apple TV still has...

They probably want to highlight it separately so it doesn't get buried with the "declining" iPods

Adding in router functionality seems like overkill. I could easily see this end up costing $250-$300 if it did. I'm not sure it would be a killer product at that price point. Going from a $99 price point to a much higher price doesn't make much sense to me either.

Apple was in negotiations with cable companies and TV networks to allow customers to skip commercials on recorded shows and Apple would compensate programmers for the lost revenue

This is the dumbest idea ever.

Maybe it's time to put the 3rd Gen ATV's on Ebay...

Supposedly it's been time for about a year... ever since the 3rd gen was released really....

#waytoomanyappletvrumorsthatgonowhere

I'd say that they are just as likely to build a router into an iMac, or a mac mini. It just doesn't make any sense. You want to be able to put your apple tv near your television set, putting a router in it just limits your placement options. And besides apple already makes a router that works perfectly fine.

As far as I'm concerned wifi is to flakey in a crowded wireless area for heavy streaming anyway, which is why my 4 apple tvs are connected by ethernet or power line AV.

Yup. I think we'll see something in the next couple of months, whether it's an model with an App Store or a more fully featured set top box, who knows.

I agree. There's a few too many sources of noise this time around for this too all be smoke and no fire this time.

• Game & Controller rumours

• Unannounced content providers

• Netflix at CES talking about 4K support for unreleased devices

While the first half of 2013 was barren of Apple Events, if 2014 is going to be a busy year, they'll probably want to get something out the door this Spring.

If Apple were allow 4k steaming from iTunes, I feel this would be the best solution to handle the bandwidth required.

What? The bandwidth starts with your service provider, and certainly for the seeable future, it's unlikely that good quality 4K streaming will make it to many homes.

This will never happen, but remove the restriction of making me put all my videos inside itunes and allow AppleTV to catalog samba or NFS shares that are visible on my network and you have a million+ more instant sales. Make it a true media player box instead of this locked down thing. Hell keep it locked down and tie it to the app store, but let me use my NAS and its storage on my network without having to have itunes running if I don't want to.

A router? What if you already have a Time Capsule?

What would be the point of including a router in a Apple TV?

Streaming quality depends more on peering agreements (Netflix stuttering, etc.)

Bandwidth decreases a lot with distance. Those benchmarks (http://ift.tt/1bwJafk) revealed the latest AirPort Extreme (802.11ac)'s bandwidth is reduced by over 65% just by going to another room on the same floor.

This would allow greater bandwidth, of course as long as the content provider can deliver high bandwidth too. If this is your primary router, you'd effectively only be limited by your raw Internet speed (unless you have >1Gbps), and latency could be reduced too.

If true, Apple may be doing this so they can provide 4K content without too much compression. Netflix said they would start airing 4K content as soon as the first half of this year.

If you already own an AirPort router, you can configure an extended network (http://ift.tt/GYRV3b) using AirPort Utility so that both routers are used at the same time to offer optimal speed and range.

via apple - Google News http://ift.tt/1fkz59W