With 2016 just around the corner, I’m taking some time to think about what Apple could do in the next year that would bring advancements to their products. Today, let’s talk about the Apple Watch and Apple TV.
Apple Watch
While my opinion of the Apple Watch has cooled over the months, I still think the device has great promise, but in many ways, it’s a very 1.0 product.
I think the time to see new hardware has come. The Watch is slow, even running native software. I hope that Watch 2 can be much faster, but with the same battery life Apple ships now. (I think that battery life is probably the most important metric for this device, actually. A dead watch is useless.)
To make my request even more difficult, I’d like the Watch to be thinner. I don’t mind the weight of my stainless steel version, but it constantly gets caught on my jacket sleeves. Something more sleek would be welcomed.
On the software side, I don’t really know where to start. I think the app model just isn’t working the way Apple envisioned it would. The Watch excels at notifications, fitness tracking and providing glanceable information. Part of me thinks that if the company focuses in those areas, maybe the Watch as an app platform won’t be as vital.
Apple TV
If you look at the Watch for a matter of seconds, the Apple TV exists as the far other end of the spectrum.
The new Apple TV is pretty great in places. The UI is fun and fast, and the ability actually choose my apps (as opposed to have them forced onto my device) is pretty awesome. The new Apple TV is the center of our family’s entertainment, and is on all the time, even to just pipe music through the TV.
While the update to support the iOS Remote App was a huge win, there’s still a lot of work to do on the Apple TV. The App Store is a ghost town, and it seems silly that I can’t buy an app or some other content on my iPhone and have it on my TV when I get home.
The elephant in the living room is, of course, the lack of an over-the-top service from Apple. It’s great to have Netflix and Hulu on my Apple TV (come on, Amazon!) but an à la carte system that would allow me to watch content that I currently can’t as a cord cutter would really make the Apple TV shine. If Apple can deliver it in 2016, the Apple TV would really become indispensable for my family.