The iPad wasn't the only Apple gadget that got some update love on Wednesday afternoon at Apple's : CEO Tim Cook also unveiled an update to the Apple TV.
The new Apple TV will support 1,080p high-def content and features a redesigned user interface, though the physical set-top box will look the same as its preddecessor.
The simpler interface displays "big billboard images for movies," per Engadget's live blog of the event. The Verge compares the new look to that of the iOS user interface.
“People are going to love streaming movies and TV shows in 1080p with the new Apple TV, and photos look beautiful displayed at the maximum resolution of your TV,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing, according to a press release. “Apple TV is easier than ever to use with its new icon-based interface and the ability to access your purchased movies, TV shows and music right from iCloud.”
Cook also said that Apple's cloud-based content storage system iCloud will now support movies, in addition to TV episodes and music, for streaming via Apple TV.
The new Apple TV device will go on sale on March 16 for $99.
Since the release of the first Apple TV in 2010 (not counting the big "iTV" box from 2006), Apple has sold about two million units worldwide, according to analysts.
Though the Apple TV update is exciting, it is perhaps not the Apple TV news that many were hoping for: It has long been rumored that Apple is working on a high-definition television set, with Apple's late CEO Steve Jobs telling biographer Walter Isaacson that the company had "finally cracked it" in an interview in 2011. Though a working 50-inch model of the television is rumored to be in Apple design head Jony Ive's studio, and though it has been widely reported that Apple is in talks with cable companies and television networks about radical new subscription models, Apple has not yet addressed these rumors, and did not do so on Wednesday, either.
Check out our live blog of the Apple event for more updates.
Take a look at the slideshow (below) to see photos from the March 7 event.
