If you go for Roku’s new Voice Remote Pro, you might get one without the Apple TV + button visible in marketing materials.
When I was dispatched a Pro voice remote control last week the one I received had four streaming buttons on the wand: Netflix, Disney +, Hulu, and Sling TV. But marketing images for the Pro showed the remote with the Hulu button taped to the bottom row and an Apple TV + button instead of a Sling shortcut. The gap was initially spotted by Zatz not funny!, and Roku confirmed to Gizmodo that the remote with the Apple TV + button would take a minute to start shipping.
“The transition of the buttons on the Roku Voice Remote Pro will take a few months, but in the meantime, customers can use their voices to program a personal shortcut button to launch their favorite channels,” a spokesperson said.
Indeed, a pair of programmable buttons is one of the few advantages of the Voice Remote Pro, which is also rechargeable. In addition to its “find my remote” and hands-free functionality, personalized hot keys will make it easy for Apple TV + subscribers to bypass those hiccups. However, the button problem will likely be annoying to anyone who is do not a Sling subscriber but is a paying Apple customer a service.
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It’s unclear why the button was featured in marketing materials and why the change appears to have happened so late in the game. But it does indicate that Roku has doubled down on its initiative to win over Apple users, even for a service. fairly new to space and still working on creating a substantial library of originals.
Roku has dramatically expanded support for Apple users who choose to stream it devices on Apple’s own set-top boxes, which are significantly more expensive than many Roku devices. Roku finally introduced Support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit on its 4K devices with the Roku OS 9.4 update, and its inclusion of the Apple TV + button directly on its remotes further demonstrates the company’s desire to target Apple users. .
But it looks like the marketing materials have taken the plunge a bit. So if an Apple TV + button is a big deal upgrade requirement for you, it looks like we might have to wait a few months before we start seeing it become widely available.
