Previous Gen AppleTVs Won’t Get New Model’s Software Features

John Brownlee ()

Previous Gen AppleTVs Won’t Get New Model’s Software Features

When Steve Jobs announced the new palm-sized AppleTV on Wednesday, replete with AirPlay-streaming functionality from your computer’s iTunes library, 720p high-def video and Netflix capability, many of us wondered if Cupertino would (or even be able) to extend the new functionality back down the line to the older, drive-based model.

Nope, says Ars Technica. An Apple spokesperson confirmed to them that there will be no software updates to bring the new AppleTV functionality to the last generation model.

To be honest, I wasn’t suspecting anything different. According to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, even though the AppleTV doesn’t look like it is running iOS, it is… an assertion supported by the new AppleTV’s A4 CPU. The new software probably doesn’t even work on old AppleTVs, and rolling out a major software update for the obsolete model would essentially require coding the functionality from scratch.

Still, it’s disappointing. I, like many AppleTV owners, gave Apple my money for their “hobbyist” device, supporting and defending it for years even while Apple ignored it. Now that they are taking the device seriously and finally bringing the AppleTV brand up to spec, though, Apple’s quick to abandon us.

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[via 9to5Mac]

10 comments »

About the author

John BrownleeJohn Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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  • Nick

    To be honest I’m not that upset by this. I’ve hacked my AppleTV to play archived DVDs and a whole lot of other content and, while I’m sure those apps would eventually have been updated to hack the new AppleTV iOS, the old model with the hacked software does pretty much what I need.

  • Glenn

    Oh well. I will continue to use my AppleTV until it dies, quite happily thank you. It works just fine and I don’t have to leave my iMac on 24/7/365 in order to listen to iTunes music via my stereo or watch video on my HDTV in the living room. I long ago switched out its piddly little hard drive for a 1GB one, and it has Boxee on it as well, which extends its functionality well enough that I really couldn’t care less about the new model.

  • Don Pope

    If you have the old Apple TV, you can get all the new features for only $99!

  • Tom

    Apple could at least offer an exchange program. Bring in your old Apple TV and we’ll give you the new one for $79.

  • Matt

    I love my Apple TV and would not want to turn it in.. If they would just add Netflix to the old model I would be happy!!

  • http://Qsigroup.com Steve

    Don’t care if the old aTV mirrors the new iTV. I like both for different reasons.

    The aTV will remain with the big home theatre setup and the new iTV will go in the bedroom and the Roku box goes to my son. I lose nothing in the switch except MLB-TV on Roku, but I can live watching baseball on my iPad.

    Just wish my iTV (ordered immediately) was here.

  • king

    I believe if you sell your old apple tv, you will have enough money to buy the new apple tv.
    I am not sure why you are upset. I am very happy to buy it from you for $100 and I will pay shipping too.

  • Garland2

    this doesn’t make much sense….
    so in effect, iTunes will stop selling films as you can’t watch them in the main platform the Apple TV?

  • Garland2

    PS why would anyone want to stream media continuously??

  • charli

    garland. few people are going to be stream continuously but consider the math. For $8.99/month I can have a netflix account and stream a new movie every night. Or a couple of tv shows. If I rent the same from itunes we are looking at $1.00 (if the movie is on a rental sale or I watch a single tv show that can be rented) or likely up. that’s $30 in one month. the math is simply better.