Apple, at the latest WWDC today, unveiled some rather noteworthy updates for the company’s streaming media platform.  For those unfamiliar, the company unveiled their latest Apple TV 4K product a little over a year ago.  Since that time, sales seem to be booming, at least according to Apple.  Year-on-year sales grew 50% although the company hasn’t really told us the quantity of units sold.  Regardless, it would seem the company is now getting more aggressive with the product.  With that being said, here are all the new announcements regarding the product from WWDC.

Dolby Atmos Finally!!!

This is something I have been waiting for.  Apple announced that Dolby Atmos is now coming to the 4K product.  This is a great addition for a box that Apple has been touting as a “Home Theater” must have.  Dolby Atmos is Dolby’s latest product to enrich the audio experience.  Using multi-channel sound as well as speakers pointed up, Dolby can bounce sound waves around to give you a more enriching sound.  Unfortunately, Atmos has been slow to take off.  But with the announcement today, Atmos adoption could be skyrocketing soon.  You will need to upgrade your equipment to Atmos compatible sound equipment.  The good news is that you won’t have to spend a dime on your movies.  Apple, like they did with 4K, will be upgrading movies for free.  Look for more on this soon.

TV Apps Are The New Norm

Apple also announced a partnership with Charter, a major cable player in the US.  Charter will be partnering in some capacity with Apple that will allow consumers to use an Apple TV 4K box instead of the cable box.  How they do this isn’t exactly clear although one thing they did tell is us that Charter customers will be able to get access to TV apps with zero sign-on required.  What this means is that a Charter customer who subscribes to TNT will also be able to download and watch the TNT app and it will just work.  Then, you can integrate these apps directly into Apple’s TV App which should conceivably be a central place to watch navigate all the apps everywhere.  I use the word, “conceivably” because I haven’t really been able to justify use of Apple’s TV app.  But we will see how things progress as these changes move forward.

Remotes, Remotes, Remotes

Apple also announced that alternative remotes are coming to the platform, although the company didn’t tell us much about them. One of the biggest complaints about the latest Apple TV is the poor remote design.  While Apple did give you the ability to use the App on your phone to control the device, this latest update adds new physical remotes to the equation.  Unfortunately we don’t know what remotes these are and how good they will be.  Only time will tell but you can check back here as we have more information.