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Apple (AAPL) has been hinting about launching a new Apple TV device for months now, and it looks like the announcement of the product will happen in September, according to a report from Buzzfeed. Originally, the set-top was expected to be unveiled at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, but that ended up not happening, possibly because of Apple's desire to keep attention focused on its Apple Music service.
The fall announcement will likely be part of a larger event announcing the next iPhone—definitely one way to ensure sure people are paying attention to the debut.
As for what the new Apple TV will offer, the rumors suggest the device will be a major upgrade of the 2012 version, according to Buzzfeed—with features such as a better operating system, more storage, a touch-pad and even Siri on hand to help out.
No word on the price of the new Apple TV, but the most recent (2012) version was slashed from $99 to $69 in March.
And while it won't debut at the same time, Apple is planning to offer a subscription TV service akin to Amazon Fire as well, possibly next year. That will include a new App Store specifically for Apple TV, with a developer's kit for third-party offerings too. The idea may be to get the hardware out there, and give developers time to build apps, before setting up the subscription for streaming.
Apple is going to really have to dazzle people with the new TV device and streaming service.[/pullquote]
Apple has been talking about wanting to do for television what it did for portable music and phones for years, but the efforts have been repeatedly pushed back. The market is a lot more ripe now though as more people get rid of their cable services altogether, relying on streaming services from Amazon, Netflix and other Internet sources to replace the traditional cable box.
So, since Apple is far from first to market with this kind of service, it's going to really have to dazzle people with how well it compares to competitors. It's going to need at least one killer app and some astounding exclusive shows, and also will need to offer an interface that is as intuitive as possible. Apple fans will have to hope that the company has learned its lesson from the problems it's had making the Apple Watch the kind of mainstream phenomenon it was clearly intended to be. Apple would be better to take a page from the iPod in terms of offering a product that was already around, but simply miles ahead in terms of quality.
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