What's next for Apple? We think it's the remote

By Josh Lowensohn on 13 May 2008

After looking at what Apple has done in the past, there are some clues going forward. A good place to look is some of its older products, both software and hardware.

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Comments (2)

  • clintondean commented on 13/05/2008 19:16 Report abuse

    A can't see this making much of an impact. Sure there are some niche possibilities to having a nice remote interface to control the Airport Express, but even the most hardcore Apple diehards wouldn't put themselves through the pain of looking down and navigating a tiny touch screen in their lap when they have the same interface displayed on a 100cm+ TV directly in front of them!!!

  • Dean commented on 13/05/2008 17:51 Report abuse

    "Having users simply search through a directory to find their TVs, cable boxes, stereo receivers, and more would be a simple affair"

    I don't think so. I've got a Harmony 1000, and there's about 5,000,000 devices in their library -- and growing. Let me tell you: learning the codes is a *much* simpler affair than trying to find your remote in the list. You need to know the *exact* model number and that can be hard to find on your 7-year-old stereo equipment.

    The Harmony also has a feature where it asks you just press a couple of buttons on your remote, and it uses the codes from those buttons to look up the remote in it's database. It's far from perfect, and you often end up realizing that your remote isn't supported anyway.

    I know people think Apple are miracle workers, but I just don't see how it's *possible* to make programming Universal remotes easier than just manually learning codes.

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