I thought Apple would kill the TV remote…

Looking through Apple’s history, they’ve always brought us new interfaces to interact with new gadgets. Macintosh, mouse. iPod, scroll wheel. iPhone, multi-touch… etc…

However, I feel the new Apple Watch and Apple TV do not live up the legacy of their cousins. My expectation was that Apple would do away with the TV remote and implement gesture controls.

This can be backed by early rumors of their attempt to license the Kinect technology, and the PrimeSense acquisition that followed.

It would be classic Apple to say “our TV doesn’t need a remote,” much like their implication that a smartphone that needs a stylus is dead on arrival.

I hadn’t really thought much about how the interface would operate, but figure something along the lines of “snap your fingers to gain control of the TV,” “point up or down to scroll,” “clap your hands to exit the application.” This allows participation from anyone in the TV experience, and doesn’t require additional gadgets.

The technology is there, and when Jobs announced that he “cracked it”, I’m pretty sure it had to be the interface that would be manipulated by your hands. So hopefully, this Apple TV is just a bid to get developers and content providers on-board, and not the real thing.