Over the weekend 9to5Mac reported that the long-awaited Apple TV 4 hardware will be priced under $200 with executives deciding between a “starting price point of either $149 or $199”, and today Buzzfeed’s
John Paczkowski has corroborated that information. Apple is said to have settled on the $149 price point for Apple TV 4, which is higher than Apple TV 2 and 3’s original $99 price point but lower than Apple TV 1’s original $299 price. Apple TV 3, which we reported will remain in the lineup, was lowered to $69 (with an even lower street price) earlier this year.
The more capable Apple TV with Siri plus an App Store is also said to feature universal search, Buzzfeed says and we’ve previously reported, which is a useful feature missing on current models. Paczkowski notes that this feature is based in part on Apple’s 2013 Matcha acquisition. Mark Gurman last month on iOS 9-based Proactive Search:
As Jeremy Horwitz also noted in March, one of the biggest omissions from the current Apple TV is system-wide search support. For example, a user cannot search for “James Bond” and see results across the iTunes Store, Netflix, the Crackle app, and the Apple Music library. Apple is said to be planning to fix that with the next-generation Apple TV software.
As we’ve detailed, the slightly thicker and wider Apple TV 4 will be based heavily on iOS 9 with Siri voice commands and search as the central user interaction model.
An all-new and enhanced Bluetooth remote with new features like motion detection and voice search will be included in the new offering. Support for Bluetooth gaming controllers previously only supported on iOS devices will present a gaming platform opportunity for the new device as will the new App Store.
Apple is set to unveil the new Apple TV 4 next week at the iPhone 6S event with the new set-top box set to hit stores in October.
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The article states the Apple TV starts at $149. So most likely it will have multiple capacities or bundles.
OK, can we drop the whole “price point” term? Unless the price is given as a range, it’s always a point! We don’t need the redundancy, even if it supposedly makes one sound like a hip, tech, geek.
149$ price tag may not be bad. While apple may want Apple TV to slowly become a premium device( just like other products) most people today buy it as an accessory / extension of their iPhone or iPad bcos the price is not a factor. It should remain that way in principle. That way for consumers it’s a no brainier to buy and for Apple people spend most time in their Eco system. Else people are already questioning the need for devices like the watch which cost an addition $500 and not a must have. The trajectory of iPad sales is known to be on decline , my theory from anecdotal evidence is past iPhones and newer bigger ones especially are cannibalizing iPad sales.
Depends on what we get, and if you have a Gen3 or nothing. Looking at this, I don’t see the need to go from a Gen3, but this is all still speculation. I was hoping for a real upgrade, but this isn’t looking like it based on todays reports…
Agree. Also no cool looking touch remote. Not sure what I would do with storage…but then it just me.
I “had to” upgrade when it was the cooler design. Now with it being just a little bigger device with very few other changes I can wait. I know I know that we don’t know what Apple is going to launch but historically I have seen there are hardly any surprises any more at these events.