This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Of all the revelations about the late Steve Jobs in his new biography, this is the one quote from him that raised the most eyebrows:
"I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," the former Apple CEO said in the book. "I finally cracked it."
That one sentence alone re-ignited years of speculation that Jobs and Apple were developing a new television set, a way of revolutionizing an existing industry the same way the iPhone did for the mobile phone market. Jobs wanted to make a television set that was beautiful, simple, intuitive and functional. Analysts now believe Apple could introduce one as early as next year.
But what can you do to a TV that others haven't already? Digital picture? High definition? Web integration? Three-dimensional image?
I think what Jobs was talking about had less to do with technology and more to do with the overall experience — from turning it on to how we change the channel. As a former television critic for eight years and a technology writer for longer, I have my own ideas of what I'd like to see in a new television set from Apple.
Voice command • Imagine the iPhone 4S' Siri on an Apple television set. This new voice-operated personal assistant allows the user to ask for help from the phone, like "Show me directions to the store." It uses natural language technology so you can ask it to do something in a number of different ways and it understands.
For a TV you could ask it, "Change it to 'True Blood.' " Or you could order it to, "Record this week's 'Walking Dead,' " and it does just that. No more pointing the remote at the TV. No more scrolling through pages of the on-screen guide to find the show.
Voice commands could take out the difficulty of recording new shows or finding live programs.
Apps • The TV should be able to run apps you buy from iTunes. Therefore, the television should run the same iOS 5 operating system that runs the iPad, iPhone and AppleTV, so you can install, say, "Angry Birds," and play it on the TV. But more to the point, you could run apps like HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Crackle or TV.com on the TV without attaching a separate box.
Customers have been clamoring for a la carte programming where you just pay for the channels or shows you want due to the high cost of cable TV. This is a way to have that.
Integration • As Jobs said, the TV should be fully integrated with the iPad, the iPhone, iTunes and the new iCloud service. That means if you have a movie or video podcast on your phone or in iTunes on your computer, you should be able to play them wirelessly on your TV without pressing a lot of buttons.
Interface • Whether you're using voice commands or a remote to navigate through your TV, the on-screen guide to channel surf should be of Apple's design and not the guide from Comcast, Time-Warner or any other TV provider you get your programming from.
When it comes to user interface design, Apple is the best because they know how to integrate artistry with simplicity.
Online • The television should be completely integrated with social networks like Facebook and Twitter and have a web browser that works (boxes from the old Web TV to the current PlayStation 3 have always had terrible web browsers). And they should get programming fully integrated with the online functionality.
Imagine watching "Gossip Girl" and you see one of the characters wearing a dress you like. You could then punch a button and buy a dress just like it online.
Cost and design • It has to be as beautiful and sleek as the iPhone and the iPad. With the best hardware designers in the business, that shouldn't be hard for Apple to do.
Better shows • I wish there was a button you could press and all of a sudden your TV shows were as great as "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad." I thought I'd throw this in, but even Apple can't magically do what Hollywood has mostly failed at for decades. But I can still dream.
Twitter: @ohmytech
Google+: +Vincent Horiuchi