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Topic: Apple

The color purple: Could the WWDC logo foretell a TiVo partnership?

Summary: Rumors are swirling about what Apple might announce at WWDC, but the 2013 logo might be the biggest clue of all.

Jason D. O'Grady

By for The Apple Core |

Much has been written about Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2013 logo, and eager Apple watchers are looking to it for clues about what the company might announce on June 10.

Does the WWDC logo foretell a TiVo acquisition? - Jason O'Grady
(Images: TiVo; Apple; Jason D O'Grady/ZDNet)

While iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 are foregone conclusions, the WWDC logo might be a clever hint at what's to come. Many have noted that the WWDC '13 logo is almost the exact shape of the Apple TV puck.

While the logo shares the rounded square shape of the puck, there are variations behind it in different colors. If you look closely at the colors behind the purple square, they include red, green, orange, and blue — the exact colors found on another familiar logo: That of TiVo.

While it's a bit of a stretch (granted), it's not out of the realm of possibility, either. I've long been saying that Apple should acquire TiVo (in 2006 and 2009), and it's been rumored as far back as 2005. Apple's certainly got the capital, but I'm afraid that that ship might have sailed.

The cable companies have started to catch up to TiVo with their DVR technology (kind of), and Apple will need deals with all of them to get any substantive traction on the set top.

Jason Calacanis told ZDNet's sister site CNET UK in October 2008 that he "knew first-hand that Apple was working on a networked television". But two-plus years before that (on January 6, 2006), I wrote on The PowerPage about how Apple might release a television at Macworld Expo 2006.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has long claimed that a television will be Apple's next big thing, and Steve Jobs told his biographer that he had "finally cracked it" shortly before his death.

Jobs told Walter Isaacson:

I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.

Don't get me wrong; I love the idea of an Apple television, I just think that it's a long shot for WWDC.

Topics: Apple, Software Development

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7 comments
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  • Tivo hasn't exacly been a success story. I dont think they have much to

    offer apple at this point. They dont have any leg up on any other set top box maker. Pure and simple apple (nor anyone else) just doesnt need them. They dont even have strong brand recognition anymore. You're right, that ship has sailed, and tivo was left behind on the deserted island. And that's if Jobs really hadn't cracked "it". If he really did then they need tivo even less because tivo sure hasn't cracked "it". But whatever "it" is tim cook doesn't seem to be able to excute on it and with shrinking phone and tablet share and margins and a new xbox on the way the tv ship might have sailed for apple too.
    Johnny Vegas
    Reply Vote

    • +1

      I don't know how great TiVo is stateside... But Virgin Media's "TiVo" box over here is awful! Yes it can pause and rewind live tv, record shows and whatnot that any DVR can do. It can access their on demand service like their V+ boxes.... It just does it all so bad! User interface is awful; it's simple things made difficult - pressing guide shouldn't default to channel 1 when there are hundreds - just open where you're watching like every other digibox. Also it should be simple to switch to a previous channel and set a whatch next or "playlist" - things my 20 quite digibox upstairs does. On demand also crashes. A lot - we tend to just use the playstation.

      As for this logo thing... Apple TV? No. This is the rumour that won't die because they have a product called Apple TV that confuses people, or they mis-hear maybe when it first came out they were going that way - iTunes meet TV, but they have learned and adapted to the market the modern Apple TV is a client for AirPlay. That's what is selling. I can't really see what could now be gained from an apple television? I have though for a long time that the convergence of the tv and the PC is an inevitability, I just don't think we're there yet. With 27" iMacs starting at 1500... A 42" one may be a bit beyond the television market price tag. It will happen, just for now it is in OEM's interests to keep them separate - Sony/Samsung; why sell a PC-TV when you can sell a PC and a TV?

      Going back to the logo, I think it looks like an app. An iOS app. Or maybe an OS X icon. Or an apple mini. Or a super drive. See? This is the thing with apple design - it is all meant to match up. If you have one of everything, do the following;

      Lay your iMac on it's back. On top of that put your MacBook, then your MacBook Air, then your mini, then ipad, then ipad mini, Apple TV and then iphone (at this point ask if you really needed all that) align them all along two edges - that corner curve is exactly the same on all of them - you've just been "Ived". for square products - Apple TV and Mac mini, you get the shape of that logo, scale it down and you get the exact same shape as an app.

      With haswell actually coming out, and Mac Pro banned in the EU, I'd hope to see an announcement regarding new mac pros.
      MarknWill
      Reply Vote

      • haswell

        I wonder why you put so much hope on Haswell. The announced so far models are pretty much low end CPUs.
        danbi
        Reply Vote

  • It's time...

    For the watch. The colours represent the many colours the watch will be available in, and the watch face tells time - the reference to MMXIII is a reflection of that.

    Now that you've read the above, it's just as much BS as the story above. But just in case I am right, I wasn't guessing, it's just my intuition!
    mattmuir
    Reply Vote

  • Apple TV...

    Hmmm... I'd be more inclined to bet Apple might finally announce apps for Apple TV, if that WWDC logo has anything to do with it.

    I think the time is right, since Apple TV has been promoted to a step above being a "hobby" for Apple.
    redgeminipa
    Reply 1 Vote

  • What about the Roman Numbers though!

    As rumors go this is pretty poor as it fails to account for a major graphic item, the Roman Numerals.

    It would be a stretch that these refer to time shifting for a Tivo Box.
    DaveLG526
    Reply Vote

  • Only slightly more plausible than the article's conclusion.

    A highly enhanced (Apple logo) TV at the heart of a full size Apple TV. Even that would stretch the meaning to the breaking point (but not quite as much).
    themusicmanrk
    Reply Vote
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