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By Dan Moren for Macworld
tvOS 10 is missing its best feature, but this show ain’t over yet
Among the many updates being made to Apple’s device lineup this week, one is getting particularly short shrift: tvOS. The latest software update to Apple’s set-top box–which is now tvOS 10, since I guess the Apple TV will also turn 10 next year?–brought a few minor updates that were teased during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynote back in June.
But one of the most interesting didn’t make the cut, at least for the initial tvOS release. Single sign-in was probably the most anticipated feature of tvOS 10–sorry, dark mode–since it helps solve not only an immediate problem shared by users of Apple TV, but also seemed to be paving the way towards a more unified streaming strategy on Apple’s part. When tvOS 10 arrived, however, single sign-in was notably absent, the only indication of its fate a small “Coming Soon” label that Apple quietly added to the tvOS page. While it’s uncertain why exactly that feature was delayed, one might guess that Apple encountered the immovable object that is the cable industry.
Only a couple days later, the Wall Street Journal announced that Apple had hired away one of Timer Warner’s chief strategists to work under Eddy Cue.
While the old journalist’s adage says that two events are often merely coincidence, to me, it sure seems like Apple’s getting ready to take yet another crack at this television thing.