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Former Apple boss Steve Jobs confirmed to his biographer Walter Isaacson just before he died that Apple was exploring the concept of an Apple TV that was easy to use and linked with their new iCloud service.
Jobs told Isaacson that the design of the new TV would be “completely easy to use” and sync with iCloud to eliminate the trouble of moving content to the TV. The disclosure is found in a new Steve Jobs Biography due out this week.
Jobs said that he wanted the Apple TV to be similar to what he had done with the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
Jobs said he had found a solution to the interface problem that would scrap the traditional remote but, by implication, wouldn’t use something Apple had done before.
“It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine,” Jobs said. “I finally cracked it.”
Electronista said that Apple has so far used a relatively conventional interface on its initial project, the Apple TV, in a four-way remote. The Remote app for iOS and AirPlay support has improved its control but is widely regarded as stopgaps to fix a relatively conventional design.
Piper Jaffray Analyst Gene Munster has insisted for years that Apple was working on a TV.
During his appearance at the D8 conference last year Jobs hinted that he might want to skip set-top boxes entirely.
He warned that the cable and satellite industry model gave a subsidised device that made it difficult for anyone to offer a separate media hub that would be worth buying separately.
While he ultimately followed up with the second-generation Apple TV box, even it has sold comparatively slowly. Apple executives during results calls still refer to it as a “hobby” but often add that “there’s something there.”
Apple is tipped to launch a new TV in 2012.
