iPhone + Apple TV: what hasn’t been explored

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Well, the media hype has mostly died down surrounding the iPhone, at least in the U.S.

However, what I find lacking about the current iPhone is that it only integrates or interacts with one core product in Apple’s repertoire: the many iterations of the Mac (Mac Mini, Mac Pro, Macbook Pro, Macbook, iMac). What about integration with Apple’s other consumer-oriented products, like AirPort Extreme?

Or better yet, did it ever occur to Apple’s engineers that the iPhone (or the iPod touch) would integrate well with the Apple TV? Perhaps, as a touchscreen remote?

Well……it looks like they had caught a fleeting glance of it back in…what? 2005, you say? In the USPO, you say?

No, I don’t fully expect for Apple to make use of this patent in the next iteration of either the Apple TV (which doesn’t have iPhone’s bluetooth) or the iPhone (which doesn’t have AppleTV’s infrared). But, in my honest opinion, it would push for a more diverse purposing for the iPhone:

  • songs and movies (and even games) bought through iPhone’s iTunes Wi-fi Store can be streamed (or, to use the Zune’s parlance, “squirted”) to Apple TV – useful if you want to see/hear/play it on a TV screen
  • more interactive controls on the iPhone for Apple TV playback
  • User-chosen YouTube (and other web video hosting service) videos can be downloaded on the iPhone and streamed, again, to the Apple TV

Think of it as being a more handheld, mobile replacement for the Mac (well, that’s what Macworld said in October), being able to use the iPhone more with the Apple TV than you would use your Mac or PC.

This is what hasn’t been fully explored.

Sources and useful links:

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