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iPhone and AppleTV to Unite in January in New Apple Product?

by Tim Stevens on December 11, 2007 at 11:43 AM

iPod Touch + Apple TV
Poor Apple TV, so simply styled and sophisticated, yet already being called a failure by many. The thing just hasn't sold, and with its limited support for HDTV, it isn't likely to get any better. But in a recent interview with USA Today, Apple head honcho Steve Jobs indicates that he still wants Apple TV to succeed, and he has plenty to say about just how the company can make that happen. One suggestion seems quite fascinating to us: Turn the iPhone and iPod Touch into fancy remote controls.

No, this isn't an announcement of intent from Apple, but think about it: Logitech's programmable Harmony remotes make wading through the settings of your home entertainment center easy. One button to turn everything on to watch a movie, another one to turn on the Xbox 360 and play a game, etc. etc. No more fumbling with 15 remote controls. However, Harmony remotes are expensive one-trick ponies and somewhat painful to configure. If Apple could bring its patented user experience to the universal remote game, it could certainly have a winner on their hands.

However, there's one big catch: Neither the iPhone nor the iPod Touch have infrared emitters, so on their own they can't control much of anything. But connect the devices to an Apple TV via Wi-Fi, give the Apple TV 2.0 a built-in IR emitter, and you could stream content directly to your iPhone or iPod Touch and turn them into colorful, multi-touch universal remotes.

Maybe we're dreaming here, but we'd be interested.

From Digg

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Tags: Apple Rumors, Apple TV, AppleRumors, AppleTv, Future Tech, FutureTech, iPhone, iPod, Rumors

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