
Apple is putting iTunes on Samsung TVs - bkmn
https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/6/18170797/samsung-2019-tvs-itunes-support-airplay-2
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petepete
Samsung also add advertising to their Smart TV UI. I'd recommend avoiding at
all costs. I wrote a guide on blocking them via DNS here, these days it's
probably easier just to get a Pi-Hole.

[https://gist.github.com/peteryates/b44b70d19ccd52f62d66cdd4b...](https://gist.github.com/peteryates/b44b70d19ccd52f62d66cdd4bcef1e52)

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kuhhk
I just never connected my TV to the internet. There’s plenty of other ways to
make your tv “smart”... but you’re right, a PiHole would be useful to block
the ads on those streaming devices too

~~~
petepete
The Prime, YouTube and iPlayer apps work just as well on the TV as the
Chromecast (the TV just appears in the cast to list) and overall does a very
good job.

I just dislike the ads from Samsung. They weren't there for the first six
months after I bought the TV and were released in a firmware 'upgrade' without
warning.

Shitty behaviour at best. I'm no longer going to buy anything Samsung and ever
time a Samsung TV related post is made here or on Reddit, I'll post my link.

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lambada
Is this a sign that Apple might be preparing to kill the Apple TV box? Perhaps
they see the future as being native smart apps inbuilt into the TV.

~~~
tareqak
I see it is as a sign of them giving up on making their own TV (I thought it
might have been a rumour, but I might be wrong).

What I find more interesting though is the timing: a deal like this would
probably have been in the works for months in advance of the Tim Cook investor
update earlier in the week. Apple would have also had to make the software for
this version of iTunes too. What chipsets do these Samsung TVs have? Is it
similar to one for an Android phone? Could iTunes/Apple Music show up on
Android next?

~~~
lambada
Apple Music is already available on Android FYI.
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.andr...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apple.android.music&hl=en_GB)
:)

~~~
lemoncucumber
It also recently became available on Amazon Echo devices, so I wouldn't read
anything special into it becoming available on Samsung TVs (given that Apple's
Homepod directly competes with Echo): [https://www.wired.com/story/apple-
music-on-amazon-echo/](https://www.wired.com/story/apple-music-on-amazon-
echo/)

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headShrinker
Samsung software is really bad. Their screens are really good. This move will
deplete Apple's cachet further. We've seen this Apple before, in the 90s.

The problem with Apple isn't the removal of the 50 year old 1/8 inch headphone
jack, of which the cords have ripped the buds off my ears more than 100 times.
The future is cordless and there are cordless headphones that work great for
20 or more hours per charge. Removing the headphone jack was a strong product
decision, likely made by some of the leaders in product design and technology,
the world around.

The problem lies in a company that can't make a strong big corporate direction
decision.

Apple clearly attempting to shift to services because they can't come up with
a new killer device. Services are safe, and safety kills good hardware
companies. Their most important software, iTunes and iPhone iPod app has
become nearly unusable due to the strong sales funnel aimed at Apple Music.
Which I don't use but is trogan-horse-adware that causes popups everyday on my
iPhone.

Apple Presents confusing product lines highlighting numerous similar items
weakens the entire line. Selling high-quality products and at the same time
filling those devices with popup sales for services is indicative of a company
that can't commit.

These are clear signs of an Apple devolving to a state similar to where Steve
Jobs found Apple Inc in 1997, which is scary.

~~~
scarface74
Everyone acts as if it’s possible to come up with an electronic product in a
category that’s more massive than the mobile phone.

5 years before the iPhone was introduced, it was clear that the world was
getting to a point that almost everyone would have a phone.

Since the iPhone was introduced, no one has come up with a product larger than
the smart phone.

~~~
headShrinker
Hopefully it isn't just about cellphones, though that was a big one. There are
tons of sectors waiting to be disrupted and markets yet to be created.

No one knew they wanted an iMac, iPod, or an iPad. Apple created those
markets. meanwhile after Jobs, the Apple Watch isn't doing that well. iPod
sold more units in one year than the entire history of Apple Watch. The home
pod is a wash. Beyond that, there are no Apple hardware success stories. I
think that's because Jobs took huge risks, had huge vision and put huge
pressure on staff and the tech and media industries. No one is doing that
anymore. _except Elon Musk_

~~~
scarface74
It took Apple two years to sell the first million iPods. It was nowhere near
an overnight success. At its height it sold 50 million a year.

When the iMac was introduced, Apple was celebrating selling one million Macs a
quarter. In its best year, Apple sold around 20 million Macs in total a year -
less than half the number of iPhones they sell in a quarter.

At its height, Apple sold about 45-60 million iPads a year - again about the
number of iPhones Apple sells in a quarter.

I’ll consider Elon Musk a “success” when either SpaceX or Tesla is profitable
long term.

Going into the phone market wasn’t a huge untapped market. By the time the
iPhone came out, the mobile phone was already the next big thing.

As far as the Apple Watch not being a success, it’s a more profitable product
than cell phones are for any company besides Apple and Samsung....

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itchyouch
I think if there is another segment for Apple to be as successful as the
iPhone, it's not obvious yet, which product it is to be.

Another challenge is that there are markets to be disrupted, but they may not
necessarily be a 1 trillion dollar market like smartphones have been.

Apple could disrupt an industry that people may absolutely love and flock to,
but if its size is 50 Billion dollars, but that would be less than 10% of
their current market cap. What would be a 50B dollar successful stand-alone
business doesn't necessarily serve as the product that can get Apple to say a
2T market cap.

And it isn't like Apple isn't trying to find a product (e.g. apple car, watch,
homepods, etc).

~~~
scarface74
That’s the problem. If any other company had a new product that generated $10
billion in profit a year, everyone would be celebrating. If Apple does it,
people yawn.

Without realizing that most phone manufacturers can’t even break even
consistently....

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joncrane
Funny, the headline I read earlier said "Samsung Smart TVs will add
iTunes...."

Simply switching the subject of the sentence makes a huge difference in how
the story is interpreted.

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innagadadavida
This is very much related to Netflix pulling out of the iTunes store pay
option. Looks like there is a war brewing between Netflix, Apple, YouTube,
Amazon to become King of media. I predict when Netflix announces syndication
of their content, they are admitting to have lost to the giants.

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mephitix
I hope they allow playback of 4K content... right now they only do that for
Apple TV.

I purchased a bunch of movies from iTunes and was excited when they announced
they’d upgrade it all to 4K for free (until they said it could only be played
on Apple TV)

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intopieces
Hm. What device were you looking to play back 4K content, if not a TV?
Wouldn’t the viewing distance for a computer monitor need to be quite close to
make it discernible?

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mephitix
I want to be able to play back the iTunes movies I bought on my 4K TV without
having to buy an Apple TV device.

We just recently got a 4K OLED and the difference between that and my old HD
plasma (especially with HDR features) is huge.

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wkearney99
Wait, shitty software from apple instead of the shitty software that's already
on the Samsung TVs? No thanks.

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256TiB
So, then I would have to enter my Apple ID into an app on a platform Apple
does not control? While Smart TV's are far from hardened devices? While that
Apple ID is central and crucial to the security of my Apple devices and
services? I think not.

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0x0
Hopefully this means there's a chance airplay2 support can make it into
shairplay/shairport or Kodi as well sometime soon then.

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ninedays
You know something is wrong when Apple gives up control of their experience to
Samsung even if it is only a part of it.

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kingosticks
Wasn't it Samsung that removed the 3.5mm headphone port from their latest TVs?
That's spooky.

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plolio
Are people still using iTunes?

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huhtenberg
Are there people who allow their TVs connect to the Internet?

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kureikain
Yes, it's nice feature on these samsung smart tv. You can login to youtube,
netflix hulu...to watch content from these over internet. My mom loves it

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cityzen
Considering I can hardly run iTunes on a new iMac, I can't wait to watch my
Samsung "smart" tv burst into flames trying to open it.

