Steve Jobs on an Apple Television: No Need for 'All These Complicated Remote Controls'

bits applesiri blog480The New York Times publishes an interview with Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson which among other topics may touch a bit further on Apple's plans for a connected television set.

Isaacson had quoted Jobs in his biography as saying that he had "finally cracked" the difficulties in building an Apple television set, describing "the simplest user interface you could imagine" and iCloud integration for content. In the wake of the book's release, it was reported that Apple is indeed working on a Siri-enabled TV, an innovation that would fit with Jobs' description of his rethinking of the television.

The new interview with Isaacson suggests that input methods were indeed one of Jobs' primary concerns regarding a TV set, lending credence to the idea of a Siri-enabled device.

I didn’t go into details about these products in the book because it was implicitly Apple’s creations and it’s not fair to the company to reveal these details. But, he did talk about the television. He told me he’d “licked it” and once said, “There’s no reason you should have all these complicated remote controls.”

Essentially reiterating comments shared last week at a Fortune meeting, Isaacson notes that beyond television, Jobs was also working on textbooks and photography as his next areas of focus, but it remains to be seen whether and how Apple pursues those areas of exploration without Jobs at the helm.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Monday June 30, 2025 1:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are less than three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max in September this year. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an...
A18 Pro Chip

New MacBook With A18 Pro Chip Spotted in Apple Code

Monday June 30, 2025 8:05 am PDT by
Apple is developing a MacBook with the A18 Pro chip, according to findings in backend code uncovered by MacRumors. Earlier today, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip. The machine is expected to feature a 13-inch display, the A18 Pro chip, and color options that include silver, blue, pink, and yellow. MacRumors...
iPhone 17 Pro Lower Logo Magsafe

iPhone 17 Pro's New MagSafe Design Revealed in Leaked Photo

Wednesday July 2, 2025 8:37 am PDT by
The upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are rumored to have a slightly different MagSafe magnet layout compared to existing iPhone models, and a leaked photo has offered a closer look at the supposed new design. The leaker Majin Bu today shared a photo of alleged MagSafe magnet arrays for third-party iPhone 17 Pro cases. On existing iPhone models with MagSafe, the magnets form a...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
macbook air spacegray purple

Apple Planning to Launch Low-Cost MacBook Powered By iPhone Chip

Monday June 30, 2025 3:20 am PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a low-cost MacBook powered by an iPhone chip, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. In an article published on X, Kuo explained that the device will feature a 13-inch display and the A18 Pro chip, making it the first Mac powered by an iPhone chip. The A18 Pro chip debuted in the iPhone 16 Pro last year. To date, all Apple silicon Macs have contained M-series...
iOS 18

Apple Releases Second iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Tuesday July 1, 2025 10:19 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a day after Apple provided the betas to developers. Apple has also released a second beta of macOS Sequoia 15.6. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adds a Useful New Wi-Fi Feature to Your iPhone

Wednesday July 2, 2025 6:36 am PDT by
iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 add a smaller yet useful Wi-Fi feature to iPhones and iPads. As spotted by Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach, sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. For example, while Weinbach was staying at a Hilton hotel, his iPhone prompted him to fill in Wi-Fi details from his iPad that was already...
maxresdefault

Five Features Coming to AirPods Pro 3

Friday June 27, 2025 10:52 am PDT by
Apple hasn't updated the AirPods Pro since 2022, and the earbuds are due for a refresh. We're counting on a new model this year, and we've seen several hints of new AirPods tucked away in Apple's code. Rumors suggest that Apple has some exciting new features planned that will make it worthwhile to upgrade to the latest model. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Heal...
replay all time playlist apple music

Apple Music Debuts All-New Personalized Playlist

Monday June 30, 2025 7:16 am PDT by
As part of its 10-year celebrations of Apple Music, Apple today released an all-new personalized playlist that collates your entire listening history. The playlist, called "Replay All Time," expands on Apple Music's existing Replay features. Previously, users could only see their top songs for each individual calendar year that they've been subscribed to Apple Music, but now, Replay All...

Top Rated Comments

KnightWRX Avatar
178 months ago
How does an Apple Siri based TV solve the "multiple" remote problem ? My TV only has 1 remote, the others are for the different boxes that hook up to the TV...
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Hastings101 Avatar
178 months ago
I must be one of the only people that thinks talking to my TV would be a lot more work than just pushing a button on a remote control lol
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
KnightWRX Avatar
178 months ago
WHole point of this tv is to remove all said "different boxes". Just stop and think about it. A TV that would NEVER need anything attached other than ethernet.

So Apple is planning on giving me Blu-ray, PS3, Xbox360, a complete 7.1 DTS sound receiver with speaker hook-ups and HDMI switching in their Apple TV set ?

Talk about a nightmare... having to upgrade this 3000$ TV each time I wanted to upgrade one part of the setup.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
c3pa Avatar
178 months ago
Can HE just be revived, or cloned, or something?

Guys like JOBS should live 200 or 300 years at least.

THAT would be a game changer. Revolution every couple of years. Joy in products, technology dreams, great - INSANELY GREAT stuff.

Now imagine if we're left with only GATES and BALMERS.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Eidorian Avatar
178 months ago
It's about time. Remote controls for TVs are very complicated, and there are so many of them (TV, DVR, cable, etc.).

What's complicated with pressing a power button the changing the channel or the volume. Talking to your t.v is dumb. "Change channel" "The increase volume" "The go to channel 434". What a joke.
The number is the problem and not the complexity.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
joneill55 Avatar
178 months ago
The downside with a Siri-enabled TV set is that it would need to be smart enough to realize when you are just talking while the show is going so that it will not do any unexpected commands. I'd also imagine that you'd need a quiet room in order to speak to the TV set. Even with dual-noise canceling microphones it would still be strained.


Somehow I gotta believe they've figured this one out :-)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)