Is Apple TV still a problem child?

The tech world is abuzz with news that Apple TV will be given its long awaited update this Wednesday, leading to the obvious questions: what are the changes, and will they be enough to compete with Google, Amazon, and Roku?

Since the last release in 2012, Apple TV has fallen out of the spotlight. It seems that Apple has some catching up to do in the ever-growing and developing market of media-streaming devices. Most people are familiar with the current leaders: Google Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV because they have been keeping up and developing their products; but what about Apple TV? They all offer the same basic features: hooking up to the internet to allow you to watch Netflix, Youtube, and stream music from your TV. But that's not all. The newer and updated devices are voice activated, and are able to search across many channels and apps to find what you want to watch or listen to or play. Given the rumored price of $150 for a new Apple TV, Apple needs to include all of these features and more to compete with its cheaper counterparts. 

THE NEW FEATURES AND HOW THEY STACK UP:

The first and most nerd-ily exciting is the updated design and the inclusion of Apple's new A8 chip in a dual-core configuration. That's a lot of hoopla for updated effects, an updated interface, and better browsing capabilities. Which means you will be able to do more things faster while your Apple TV smiles and looks pretty. It also means gamers rejoice because now you can play high quality, causal games from your Apple TV.

Next and also very exciting is the new remote. Everyone can now throw out the old, practically useless and frustrating Apple TV remote because the new, thicker remote will feature a trackpad like touchpad, physical buttons, a Siri microphone,  and a Wii like motion sensitivity, targeting the casual gaming market.

Lastly is the universal search feature, which is the ability to search a particular director or actress across lots of apps and channels. Roku, for example, is praised for its searching capabilities because of its objective and helpful nature. Since Apple is certainly not agnostic when it come to other competitors, we expect that the search function will return strategic results linked to the app store and iTunes, but what's new? 

When comparing the alleged new features of the Apple TV to the competition, we see that Apple is drawing back the proverbial arrow and hitting it (the market) with its best shot. The outcome (as one might say) is giving Apple fans what they want and everyone else what they already enjoy.