Although Apple didn’t show off an Apple TV refresh yesterday (despite the secret shipment of new Apple TVs they got in last week), it’s still coming in the form of a software update, and All Things D has some new details on what we can expect.
According to “people familiar with the company’s plans,” Peter Kafka over at AllThingsD says that a new software update for the Apple TV is due on September 18th alongside the widescale release of iOS 7. The major new feature?
The one new feature I’m aware of is a tweak to Apple’s Airplay system. I didn’t do a great job of explaining this before, so here’s another stab: The new software will allow people who have purchased content from Apple’s iTunes store to play that stuff on other people’s TVs, via its Airplay system.
The key part is that they will be able to tell an Apple TV box they don’t own to stream the media they do own, directly from the cloud. That’s a change from the current system, which requires users to download stuff to their iPhones and iPads and fling it to the TV from there. It also echoes the way Google’s new Chromecast device works.
I have a hard time wrapping my head around the point of this update, but I’m sure it’ll become clearer when I actually see the execution. What do you think? Would you make use of this?
Source: AllThingsD
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
