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Even before the iPhone 6 release, Tim Cook had been teasing that new products will be coming from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) this year. After the announcement of HBO Now, many are predicting and/or hoping for a new Apple TV hardware model.

The current thirdgeneration Apple TV was launched in March of 2012. That is ancient by technology standards and overdue for an update. Yet it valentino shoes on sale still does everything perfectly today. And the last time Apple released a new product because it was "due for an update" was never. Why would there be a new Apple TV? History and technology give few reasons.

Steve Jobs famously described Apple TV as a "hobby" despite his (perhaps less famous) insistence on laserlike focus. The guy just did not DO hobbies. It was clear to everyone at the time that video would go digital just like music had. It was also clear that the movie industry had watched the Internet nearly destroy the record labels' business, and would not let it happen the same way to them. Apple TV was a way for the company to gather firsthand information, and by participating, help shape the market for digital video.

Why Apple Does What They DoBehind all the famously stylish marketing, Apple is very disciplined about new products. They only make products that can be great products. And only release them when the product, the technology and the market are ready.

Everyone knows the iPod wasn't the first MP3 player. Instead, Apple released it at a time when everyone wanted digital music, and digital music was a disaster. Described as the first MP3 player worth owning, iPod and iTunes were the first to provide an easy way for people to play, store and buy their music digitally. When the iPhone first launched, nearly everyone had a cell phone. And, as Jobs observed, they hated it.

The iPhone was not new technology, it was a new user experience. And it was great. Apple Pay hit more specific market timing which was not directly about users. There were rumors of NFC on the iPhone for many years, along with predictions of how Apple could leverage the millions of users with credit cards on file at the iTunes store. So why, finally, in 2014? Apple Pay would only work with newer pointofsale terminals, and a new industry requirement would force the majority of retailers to replace theirs within the next year. Note also that music players, smartphones and electronic payments are markets big enough to matter to Apple.

Apple TV is arguably the best purchased content experience for digital video. It links and extends many parts of the Apple ecosystem by seamlessly bringing all of a user's iTunes content into the living room, and extending a Mac or iPad display onto a big screen. So it's already a great product.

Apple's products are priced to deliver value, and also generate great margins for the company. Since a streaming video box will never have a premium price, cost is critical, and Apple has worked hard on that side of the equation. The secondgeneration hardware was a major cost reduction by using flash chips in place of a hard drive, and replacing the Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) processor and Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) graphics with the A4 SoC also used in the iPhone and iPad.

The thirdgeneration Apple TV was only released after 1080p TVs and content started to become common. It was built with a version of Apple's dualcore A5 processor shared with iPad and iPod Touch, capable of decoding h.264 video at 1080p. The A5 in Apple TV, however, had one core disabled. Since Apple TV only uses one core this appears to have been a daring move to lower costs through increased yields. Later, Apple quietly switched to a singlecore version of the A5. Presumably, this was after yields improved and Apple TV sales volume justified a design unique to Apple TV.

How History Applies TodayApple TV is no longer a hobby. Cordcutting has become mainstream. Cable companies have more internet subscribers than TV subscribers. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has more viewers than several major broadcast networks.

The iTunes store was obviously key to the success of iPod. Less obvious was that this integration provided seamless digital rights management which was critical to the music labels' participation. DRM is integral to Apple TV as well, since HDMI is the only video port and it carries DRM for HD digital video in the form of HDCP. Today, Ultra HD or 4k video is becoming common, both content and hardware. And there is new HDCP 2.2 to protect it with DRM. The current Apple TV hardware is not adequate for either of these. Since UHD content with HDCP 2.2 is not backwards compatible with older TVs or devices, support will be critical for the future of Apple TV.

Apple does not create separate products to compete at lower price points like other manufacturers. The recent price drop to $69 matches their approach of shifting older hardware models to lower price points, which could be an indicator that a new Apple TV model is coming. Readers will recall, though, that repricing of iPad and iPhone models happened when new ones were announced.

The Worldwide Developer Conference is where Apple announces new software and SDKs for app developers. Support for HomeKit and Family Sharing are already in the latest OS beta for Apple TV, so their addition seems inevitable and likely to happen at WWDC. valentino shoes Consider that the HomeKit features in beta are only a relay for other devices.

Apple TV is Not About HardwareDon't be disappointed if WWDC does not include new hardware to support HomeKit or other features. With storage and processing power comparable to iPad 2, an upgrade is not really necessary for streaming services or even thirdparty apps. Investors should be excited about updates and improvements to Apple TV even without it. Apple TV is brilliant for being a powerful driver of the halo effect across much of the Apple product ecosystem, yet one of Apple's least expensive products. And the addition of HomeKit will let developers determine whether Apple TV will become the new hub for the Internet of Things. Should that happen, it could create the opportunity for a great new premium product.

For now, Apple TV is all about accessing content. Currently under 10% of the total, iTunes content is the fastestgrowing component of Apple company revenue. And while Steve Jobs and the "realitydistortion field" that brought record labels into the iTunes Store are now gone, the acquisition of Beats Music brought Johnny Iovine and his entertainment industry connections. Since then, HBO Now has been added, and Apple is widely rumored to be in negotiations with many other content providers. It may be the first Apple product where the hardware doesn't matter.