Much like thermostats, television has been rather stagnant beyond the inevitable hardware and tech upgrades. The UX side of it hasn’t really changed since the days of the old corded remote. Apple is all about the user interface and apparently they will be building televisions soon:
Alternative remote ideas floated by Apple included a wireless keyboard and mouse, or using an iPod, iPhone or iPad as a remote. None of these concepts worked. But there was one “I finally cracked it” moment, when Apple realized you could just talk to your television.
Enter Siri.
It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest.
Of course this experience goes beyond just playing TV shows or the local news. As the line between television programming and Web content continues to erode, a Siri-powered television would become more necessary. You aren’t going to want to flip through file folders or baskets of content, checking off what you want. Telling Siri to “play videos of cute cats falling asleep” would return an endless YouTube stream of adorable napping fur balls.
That sounds promising, although it remains unclear how Apple will prevent the TV from taking commands from its own audio and/or ambient conversation. I’m sure they will figure it out though, and I look forward to no longer replacing batteries or dropping the remote between the sofa cushions.
Source: NYT