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 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. 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.
Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices Tagged: Apple TV, Apple TV 4, Price, Siri, universal search
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