Friday Apple Rumors: Motion-Controlled Apple TV Box Coming This Fall

by Christopher Freeburn | April 11, 2014 12:32 pm

Here are your Apple rumors[1] and AAPL news items for today:

[2]Gesture: Among a number of new products released by Apple (AAPL[3]) during the second half of this year will be a major update to its Apple TV media streaming box[4], AppleInsider notes. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo issued a research note earlier this week predicting that Apple will unveil a new Apple TV featuring integrated motion control sensors. The motion control technology could replace the need for a separate remote control device. Kuo notes that Apple will likely leverage technology acquired last year in its $360 million acquisition of Israeli 3D sensor-developer PrimeSense, whose infrared motion tracking technology was incorporated into Microsoft’s (MSFT[5]) Kinect sensor for the Xbox 360. The new Apple TV will also likely have its own App Store. Apple has been widely expected to launch an updated Apple TV unit this year. Recently Amazon (AMZN[6]) debuted its own media streaming box, which also functions as a game console. Kuo predicts the new Apple TV box to launch during the late third quarter, or earlier fourth quarter of this year. One thing Kuo isn’t expecting this year is an Apple-branded TV set. He says Apple won’t launch a TV set until it builds out a TV app ecosystem.

Safe: While thousands of websites and technology providers are scrambling to patch a dangerous flaw in OpenSSL software that leaves encrypted data vulnerable to hackers, Apple says it is not affected by the problem[7], Re/code notes. “iOS and OS X never incorporated the vulnerable software and key Web-based services were not affected,” an Apple spokesperson said. Dubbed Heartbleed, the flaw went unnoticed for two years. OpenSSL software is found on the majority of websites. Online security experts have been shocked by the flaw’s discovery, with at least one calling it “catastrophic.” It remains unknown if hackers were aware of the vulnerability or have exploited it. Cisco Systems (CSCO[8]) and Juniper Networks (JNPR[9]) have acknowledged that some of their products are affected by Heartbleed[10] and are developing software patches to correct the flaw.

Dropped: A British music streaming service says it has been banned from Apple’s iAd mobile advertising program[11], CNET notes. Bloom.fm had spent £2,000 per month promoting its mobile services through iAd, but was informed this week that is no longer allowed to use the service. A spokesperson for Bloom.fm said that the company was “surprised” by Apple’s decision to remove them from iAd, and speculated that Apple might view Bloom.fm as a rival to iTunes. “It’s actually quite flattering they see us as such a threat,” the spokesperson added. Bloom.fm noted that subscribers could access 22 million music tracks for £1 a month, equal to the price of a single music track download through iTunes. “So I can see why they’d want to protect their business,” the spokesperson remarked. Last year, Apple launched its own music streaming service, iTunes Radio, in the U.S. Apple is expected to introduce iTunes Radio in Britain by the end of this year. While it can no longer advertise through iAd, Bloom.fm is making the most of its banishment from Apple’s ad service, trumpeting the rejection on its website and through its Twitter (TWTR[12]) account.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[13] stories.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/04/friday-apple-rumors-motion-controlled-apple-tv-box-coming-fall/

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