Is Siri packing her bags for Apple TV?

sincity · April 23, 2014

Apple needs to have something up its sleeve if it's going to re-launch Apple TV with any success, and that thing might be a familiar virtual assistant.

Some files found in the latest updates to iOS 7 indicate that the latest version of Siri is compatible not just with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices, but with Apple TV as well.

The image below shows files within the SDK for iOS 7.1 and iOS 7.1.1, where "Assistant" (by "Bundle identifier," "Bundle name" and "Executable file") is Apple's internal name for Siri, according to 9to5Mac.

And the "1," "2" and "3" under "UIDeviceFamily" indicate what platform families the version of Siri included in the last two iterations of iOS 7 is compatible with - "1" being iPhone and iPod Touch, "2" being iPad, and "3" representing Apple TV.

All signs point to yes

These clues were uncovered by iOS developers Efrain Roa and Pierre Blazquez.

They may seem dubious to untrained eyes, but apparently Apple has used the number "3" to designate Apple TV ever since the box became based off iOS.

Granted, this isn't cold hard proof that there's a new Apple TV in the works, but it's unlikely that Apple will try to add Siri to the existing version - considering Apple TV doesn't currently have a microphone input.

And this isn't the first time files found within iOS have pointed toward a new Apple TV recently.

Back in February code divers found suggestions that the new Apple TV will have game controller support, which wouldn't come as a huge surprise, given Apple's ever-increasing focus on gaming.

Believe in Apple TV

Don't confuse the unannounced new Apple TV box with the rumored Apple iTV; the former is a set-top box while the latter is said to be an entire smart TV that Apple is supposedly working on.

But considering the first-gen Apple TV box just spontaneously lost access to the iTunes store, a new Apple TV may arrive sooner rather than later.

And if Comcast believes, than you probably should too.