Apple has the power to change everything.
The company is interested in owning the entertainment business through this crucial portal, the TV screen. It wants to complete the circle of handheld Phone and desktop computer and portable in-house iPad and TV
Speculation on the nature of the TV is not hard to find. It will attempt to re-invent the TV experience through an app-like online environment which will also integrate traditional viewing and economic models. It will feature a new kind of interface that takes us beyond the remote control, using a mixture of Siri voice control, Kinect-like manipulation and iPhone / iPad integration. It will be stylish and expensive, very obviously aimed at elite urban media consumers.
It will be heavily geared towards the connected, social generation, not as an afterthought but as a core principle. As media commentator Brian Solis says in an editorial today, the future of TV is all about integration with other screens, like the computer and mobile devics, and it's here where Apple has the most to gain. Solis writes, "Connected consumers don't just expect online, on-demand streaming optimized for each device. They expect to engage in each screen differently and in a dynamic way." There is currently a hole in Apple's multi-screen strategy, right in the corner of your living room. Unless you believe the TV is going away, it's a screen that Apple needs to own.
Apple understands that retail is finished as far as game distribution goesThe screen must come with some sort of traditional games controller. Rumor has it that Apple has been visiting core game developers to talk about a new controller and while it's possible that this might be restricted to the company's handheld gaming business, some alternative to the limitations of touch-screen, this does not preclude a standardized games controlling device.
It isn't beyond the realms of possibility that the iPad, or some version of it, will be the controller. A touch-screen controller is an idea Nintendo has already jumped on with Wii U.
It's tempting to consider again the so-called connection between Apple and Valve. Is it right that iTunes has something to learn from Steam, that Apple (like the rest of us) has something to learn from Valve's extraordinary culture? The idea of a Steam-cloud hovering over Apple devices is pretty neat.
Apple understands that retail is finished as far as game distribution goes, and it is not about to allow some other Steam-like outfit to out-iTunes its own ambitions. Steam is now the biggest retailer of PC games in the United States. The console companies and the likes of EA and Activision are gearing their business plans towards selling content through the screen. If games is the biggest entertainment business in the world, it takes the biggest company in the world to step in, dominate rivals and change everything with a bold stroke.
As well as offering games as downloadable apps, it may also consider an OnLive / Gaikai- style streaming service for top-end games.
This is where Apple's likely plans become especially murky. If the Apple TV comes with a good enough chip to play, say, games of an iPad 3 graphical quality, that will satisfy a large proportion of the market. But it won't satisfy the kind of players who want to play Crysis 3. Will Apple seek to handle this kind of game through a cloud-gaming solution, or will it cede the hardcore end of the market to established players? As yet, we just don't know, although Apple's history with games suggests that it isn't especially concerned with the Call of Duty player, when there are so many Angry Birds players ready and willing to part with their cash.
Michael Pachter says the company may decide to hedge, beginning with a fairly basic 'casual' play and then ramping up with more intense tech solutions as the infrastructure becomes available. Undoubtedly, cloud gaming is evolving rapidly and solves a lot of the issues Apple might have with stuffing its gadget with graphics chips.
Owning screens is what Apple has been doing this past decade. More to the point, it (along with Facebook) has created a massively successful communication platform in which games are the dominant factor. If they enter the console / TV market, the guys at Apple face tough competition. But do you want to bet against them?
http://games.ign.com/articles/122/1223367p1.html
