Apple’s much anticipated all-in-one Apple TV box, which will apparently incorporate live and on-demand TV content, has reportedly slipped to next year.
According to a new report by The Information, Apple engineers working on the new Apple TV project have been told not to expect a launch this year.
Numerous reports throughout 2014 have pointed to a major update of the humble Apple TV hardware. At various points it’s been rumoured that the new version was set to include a TV tuner, wireless router technology, gaming capabilities, and Siri voice recognition.
One major new feature that pretty much everyone could agree on was access to licensed TV content, with Apple continuing to make slow progress on negotiations with the major TV companies.
Opinion as to when this new Apple TV set-to-box would arrive varied from June to Christmas, but all felt it would be this year.
This recently reported slip apparently comes thanks to cable companies “dragging their heels.” Comcast and Time Warner’s pending merger has also been cited as a factor.
On the other side of the equation, the content providers believe that Apple has taken on too much with its ambitious new project, requiring a daunting range of permissions from rights holders in order to get the all-in-one service it’s seeking.
Whichever way you look at it, though, this latest stall in the evolution of Apple TV from promising if under-utilised concept to serious living room box is down to a breakdown at the negotiation table. And that’s becoming an irritatingly familiar pattern.
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Via: The Verge