Apple (Nasdaq: APPL) reportedly is gearing up for a push into streaming content seamlessly across devices and is closer to launching its own branded smart TV.
The Wall Street Journal today reported the company has been meeting with an array of media executives and describing how Apple could use its existing technology-the Apply TV streaming device, for example-to recognize users across multiple devices, and to seamlessly switch a viewer from, say, a TV to a smartphone in mid-program.
According to the report, executives have said Apple also is working on a TV that would expand on AirPlay's wireless access to content, and could be controlled through a user's voice and motions, as well as through the iPhone and iPad.
The report said Apple increasingly will look to the cloud, likely looking to leverage its iCloud service to stream content to any new device it rolls out.
Apple has long been interested in pushing forward the TV viewing experience, specifically, in changing how users interface with online and video on demand content. Voice command, via an interface like its recently debuted iPhone Siri application, seems to be a natural evolution of any Apple TV device.
Before his death, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that the company had "finally cracked it," according to Isaacson's book.
But no timeline for Apple's increased interest in the space has been shared by the company, which reportedly hasn't yet sought specific licensing deals with content providers.
For more:
- see this Wall Street Journal article
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