New Apple TV Will Rival the Amazon Echo?

Earlier this week, a report said that Apple was working on an Amazon Echo competitor. A new report today from VentureBeat says that competitor may come in the form of a refreshed Apple TV.

The company will build on its enhancements to the Apple TV announced last year, which brought the Siri virtual assistant to the set-top box. A new version of the Apple TV will solve problems with the existing box and remote control, a source familiar with the matter claims.

“They want Apple TV to be just the hub of everything,” the source told VentureBeat.


Apple reportedly considered several options including building a standalone speaker, using the Siri Remote as the key device, or turning the Apple TV into a more comprehensive assistant. The problem with using the remote as a hub is that it needs to be recharged.

The new Apple TV would eventually get its own microphone and speaker and Apple is working on additional computing infrastructure to handle processing queries and serving up results.

The end goal for Apple is to own the living room and the connected home in general, according to the report. It will be interesting to see how well merging Echo like hardware with a set-top box will work. Often the Apple TV is placed in a cabinet or with other home theater components which isn't located as central as the Amazon Echo or Google Home devices would be.

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