The first half of the Tim Cook interview with Charlie Rose is now available to watch — in full — on the CharlieRose.com website. Cook discusses the thinking behind the Watch, purchasing Beats, partnering with IBM, how he and Steve Jobs discussed Cook becoming CEO and much more. Bitesize highlights were posted a few days ago. The video is embedded below, although may not be available to view in all countries.
At Hulu’s Upfront event in New York today, the streaming media company announced some interesting news for cable cutters and entertainment indulgers. Beginning this summer, viewers without paid Hulu Plus accounts will be able to view full episodes of TV shows via the Hulu mobile apps at no cost. The content will still be ad-supported, of course, as even paid members are exposed to advertising, but content will include full TV episodes. Currently, only Hulu members with a paid subscription can access content on mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad and free viewing is restricted to the web. Additionally, Hulu says the company will release “the next generation” of its Hulu Plus app for iPhone around the same time this summer. Expand Expanding Close
Amazon has officially passed Hulu and Apple in streaming video usage in the US, according to a press release it sent out today citing recent research from Qwilt. Amazon also announced that video streams from its Prime Instant Video service have tripled since this time last year.
Qwlit’s report shows Amazon experience a 94% traffic volume increase of users consuming video since last year and that includes streams from the service to just US broadband subscribers. The report doesn’t specify, however, what video content exactly is being tracked from Apple. Amazon also experienced growth of almost 300% in certain markets. In March of this year, only Netflix and YouTube were able to capture more online video traffic in the US:
Today, only Netflix and YouTube produce more total online video traffic in the US. Amazon”s traffic volumes, as measured by Qwilt in March of 2014, increased by 94% over the previous 12 months. In some US operator networks, between March 2013 and March 2014, Amazon”s streaming video traffic increase was nearly 300%.
Amazon’s press release today follows the announcement of its new Fire TV set top box that will be a direct competitor to Apple TV, Chromecast, and similar streaming hardware. The $99 hardware– another sign its really getting serious about video streaming services– provides access to Amazon’s Instant Video streaming services in addition to popular services like Hulu and Netflix, as well as Android games and an optional game controller.
At its BUILD conference, Microsoft officially unveiled its personal assistant for Windows Phone named Cortana. The similarities to Siri are rather uncanny (and three years late) but in some areas, Siri could definitely learn from Cortana’s feature set.
Cortana certainly does a good job of cloning Siri’s appearance and functionality. However, it goes further by allowing third-party applications to do tasks and answer questions as well. For instance, you can ask Cortana to add a film to your Hulu watch list with natural language.
Amazon has just announced its Apple TV competitor, dubbed ‘Fire TV’. You can buy it now from Amazon.com for $99. The product roughly resembles an Apple TV in size and shape, but is thinner by a few millimetres and has square (rather than rounded) edges. Spec-wise, Amazon claims it is three times as powerful as Apple TV or Roku. It runs on a quad-core processor with 2GB RAM. The fireTV can stream video at 1080p over HDMI, alongside Dolby Digital surround sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHoNQrxG_8M
Input comes via a Bluetooth remote that features a five-way directional pad and some ancillary buttons. The remote has an inbuilt microphone, so you can speak show titles to have it automatically search for them.
The Chromecast, Google’s streaming HDMI dongle came out last summer. It is compatible with any Android device running 2.3 or later, iOS device with iOS 6 or 7, and any Mac or PC. Initially, users were able to stream Netflix or Youtube from an iOS device and Android device, Google Play Movies and Music only on Android, or cast websites using the Chrome browser on a computer. The Chromecast works differently from Airplay in that you can multitask and do other tasks on the device or you can let it go to sleep while streaming.
Very quickly after its release, Chromecast has received support for Hulu +, Pandora, and HBO GO. Last month a major update added ten new apps including Plex, Vevo, Songza, Red Bull TV, Post TV from the Washington Post, Viki, RealPlayer Cloud, Avia, Revision3 Internet Television and BeyondPod. The most recent update the Chromecast received allowed users to stream Google Play Movies and Music directly from the Chrome browser on a computer.
In this How-to, we’ll discuss how to setup the Chromecast, use it with a Mac and iOS device and explore its gaming potential.
Earlier this month Google announced that Hulu had updated its Hulu Plus mobile apps with support for Chromecast feature, something that it promised was on the way back in July when it first announced the $35 HDMI streaming stick. The iOS version of the Hulu Plus app previously only supported Chromecast streaming from iPad, but today the app was updated with the ability to stream TV shows and movies to Chromecast from iPhones running iOS 6 and up:
The Hulu Plus integration with Chromecast will convert your app into a custom remote letting you control video on your Chromecast connected TVs, while allowing you to browse the Hulu Plus app directly from your iPhone.
What’s New in Version 3.3.1
Start casting your favorite TV shows and Movies on Chromecast from Hulu Plus, now from your iPhone (iOS6 and above)
As for Amazon on iOS products, Amazon has pushed out a lot of updates, including Airplay last month, but noticeably absent is an Apple TV app. Currently, the best way to watch Amazon content directly on a TV is through a Roku box or Google TV.
Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.
Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app …
Chromecast is a small, $35 stick that plugs into the HDMI port of a TV set or monitor and allows users to stream content, such as YouTube and Netflix, from devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones. Think of it as a tiny, cut-down Apple TV with functionality limited to AirPlay-style casting of content. It’s available from Amazon with free shipping. The Hulu Plus app is available for both iOS and Android.
A new report from Quartz today offers some details on Apple’s content negotiations for a much rumored revamped Apple TV. Most of the report echoes what we’ve heard several times in the past– Apple is apparently talking with HBO, Disney, MTV and others about a new TV service. According to Quartz, it could include a pay TV service that would see Apple “essentially becoming a cable company itself,” as well as the release of a “full-fledged television set”:
One alternative being considered is that Apple could essentially become a cable company itself. Under that scenario, sources say, Apple would launch what is formally known as a virtual multichannel video programming distributor. Apple is still interested in striking deals with cable companies that would allow people to plug their cable lines into the back of the TV set, bypassing a cable box, sources say. But at least two years of negotiations haven’t progressed very far.
Sources say Apple has concluded that it doesn’t need all, even most, content providers on board before it can release a TV set that people would buy. It just needs enough good programming to distinguish the new product, which will try to simplify the experience of connecting internet video to the TV.
The report doesn’t offer up any details that we didn’t hear around this same time last year (and the year before that), but it appears Apple could be closer to reaching the deals it needs to launch the next-generation of Apple TV. Earlier today we reported that former Hulu SVP Pete Distad has now officially started his new role at Apple as Product Marketing VP and is thought to be leading Apple executives through negotiations with cable and media companies. Expand Expanding Close
Pete Distad, who was previously SVP of Marketing and Distribution at Hulu, has officially started his new role as VP of Product Marketing at Apple this month, according to a change to Distad’s LinkedIn page over the last week. Hulu’s executive bios page appears to be down as well, possibly while it’s updated to remove Distad’s bio.
Bloomberg reported in July that it heard Apple was recruiting Distad to lead negotiations as Apple was reportedly close to reaching a deal with Time Warner. At Hulu, Distad was responsible for content distribution and customer acquisition/retention on the company’s management team. That includes “subscriber acquisition and retention, paid, on-channel, and brand marketing, distribution and promotional partnerships, and content marketing.”
In its July report, Bloomberg said that Apple and Time Warner planned to “announce an agreement within a few months” that would bring Time Warner TV shows to the Apple TV. The report claimed Distad was being hired to help with negotiations with cable and media companies.
In June Apple added Time Warner’s HBO GO, as well as WatchESPN, Sky News and more to its existing Apple TV service, but reports over the last year surrounding a much-anticipated revamped Apple TV claimed Apple was hitting various roadblocks with cable companies.
A new report today from Quartz offered some updates on Apple’s continued negotiations with content providers for a pay TV service.
Hulu Plus for iOS received a major update today including an overhauled user-interface on the iPad, editor’s choice collections of content to view, and the ability to watch previews of content inline without going full-screen.
Update: An Amazon spokesperson says this is just a test (but you still can order this per month)“We are always looking at ways to improve the shopping experience for our customers. We are testing a monthly Prime subscription. Beyond that, we don’t have anything further to offer.”
It appears Amazon is joining Hulu and Netflix with a monthly subscription plan for its Prime video streaming service, according to a new pricing scheme found by Hacking Netflix. Some users are seeing the new pricing scheme come up, while others see only the $79/year options (compare right and above).
In addition to the free streaming video service, users of Amazon’s Prime get access to free two-day shipping on product orders (amazing to have for the holidays—especially on a month-to-month basis), as well as access to the Kindle lending library.
While Amazon’s streaming player isn’t yet available on Apple TV like Netflix/Hulu, its recent iPad app has impressed us. The $7.99/month price comes out to $95.88 per year. So, if you aren’t timid about joining Prime, it is probably better to jump on the $79/year plan.
With more and more first rate content, according to a recent Changwave/451 Group study, Amazon’s Prime streaming service is said to be gaining on industry heavyweight Netflix (graphed below): Expand Expanding Close
BBC iPlayer version 1.3.2: BBC’s streaming app for its TV and radio networks received a nice update today that brings updated graphics for Retina iPads, improved video playback performance, enhanced Voice Over controls, and the usual bug fixes and performance updates.
imo instant messenger version 3.2: The popular instant messaging app with more than 700,000 users and 50 million messages sent daily was updated this morning with one big new feature previously only available to Android users: voice calling over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G. All users running iOS 3.1 and up can now make free calls to their imo contacts with no usage of cell minutes and no data usage over Wi-Fi.
TweetBot version 0.7.0:TweetBot for Mac beta has been given a nice update, adding the ability to edit your Twitter profile within the app, animated .gif support, and Storify support among even more features. Due to Sandboxing issues, you will need to manually install the update.
MOG version 2.1.33: Online music subscription service MOG, home to roughly 16 million songs and 500,000 paid subscribers, was recently acquired by Beats Electronics. Its iOS app received a decent update today, with the ability to create and edit playlists, as well as a new album reviews section, and a “better, stronger, faster interface.”
Adobe Proto version 1.5:Adobe’s prototyping app for creating wireframe prototypes of apps and websites was updated today with a few notable features. A full list of what’s new in the update including email and Dropbox sharing, navigation improvements, and more is below:
Looking at data just released by IHS iSuppli, Netflix was able to take the top spot from Apple for online movie marketshare during 2011. With Apple experiencing a huge decline from 60.8-percent of the market the year before to 32.3-percent during 2011, Netflix came out on top for United States marketshare by revenue with 44 percent of the market last year. That is an incredible nearly 44 percent increase for Netflix, which had just 0.5-percent of the market in 2010.
What Netflix and iTunes have in common is that both services are focused on the hardware side of the business… Netflix is available on a very wide range of connected devices, while iTunes can take advantage of Apple’s soaring device sales growth… Nevertheless, comparisons between the two services have their limits… “Effectively the market has split,” Cryan said. “Netflix and Apple are competing for some of the same consumer time and money. However, the core value proposition of the two services is actually very different.”
While Netflix rules the SVOD market, its closest competitor—Hulu—is less than 10 percent of its size. Apple’s iTunes continues to dominate the transactional segment, accounting for 63.0 percent of revenue in this area, which was only down slightly from 64.6 percent in 2010. At the same time, the big growth story of 2011 was Walmart’s Vudu, which captured 8.2 percent of the growing transactional market, up from 2.8 percent last year. Most of this growth has been achieved by using a Netflix-like device strategy and has come at the expense of other providers, not Apple.
We’ve gotten word that inside Apple there are Apple TVs running the Hulu Plus app natively. The app is feature complete and ready to roll out to Apple TV users on current builds. In fact, it has been ready for at least a month and development is now on hold.
While there are no technical issues standing in the way of the Hulu Plus release on Apple TV, there appear to be some political ones. At some level at Apple, there appears to be some consideration that the Hulu Plus app could eat into iTunes TV sales on the Apple TV. Where Netflix tends to run older programming, iTunes is the Apple TV’s only outlet for current TV programming.
Hulu Plus is available on the iPad and other iOS devices but unlike many other content apps, you can’t AirPlay them to an Apple TV like Apple’s own iTunes videos. Additionally, you can use an HDMI cable to watch the iOS Hulu Plus through an iPad on your HDTV, but mysteriously only in Standard definition, not the native HD Hulu or iTunes quality. Plus, who needs an HDMI-tethered solution?
Adding to the political troubles, Hulu was recently trying to sell itself to players including Apple competitor Google (and Apple itself) but no bidders were willing to bid high enough. Perhaps Apple wanted to make sure that Hulu Plus didn’t turn into a Trojan Horse for one of its competitors?
Hulu Plus was originally barred from all TV platforms, but giving hope to Apple TV users, it recently appeared in HD on the $59 Roku (above) and even a few smaller platforms like the very capable Western Digital’s TV Live (pictured below).
