Apps on the Apple TV
Apple recently updated its Apple TV to much fanfare. Running on iOS, no hard drive, streaming only and very affordable. They seemed to sell well (Apple even gave figures for it, which they’ve never done for an Apple TV before).
But there was a snag. Apps. People expected Apps and Apple didn’t deliver.
This didn’t surprise me. Remember how Apple did the iPhone? Ship without apps, build the interest and market share and them make apps available when demand so dictates. The Apple TV really was a huge update and almost like a version one product. Imagine, if you will, that the Apple TV had been a huge failure and only sold 50,000. But, developers had made thousands of apps. These apps didn’t get any downloads due to small volume of devices and Apple lost its credibility with developers.
So I think Apple is taking its time, rightly waiting to see if demand asks for an app store. And, I am sure apps are coming. Certain of it. Apps on the Apple TV could make it a killer device. But, I’ve been thinking recently about how apps should work.
The first thing to consider is that this device is not an iPhone. It is not an iPad. There is no touch interface and no NUI way to interact with it. Using the Apple TV involves clicking an up and down arrow to move around a menu.
Also, there are few apps I really need on my TV. I don’t need a spreadsheet or 99% of the rest of apps in the App Store now. Also, the idea of clicking along to another menu to bring up my apps and clicking on the one I want out of my installed apps list to watch it load doesn’t seem appealing either.
So what apps do I want? Firstly, I want integration with IMDb and Wikipedia. Frequently when watching a movie or TV show I want to look up the actors or budget or something. But, the key word there is integration. I do NOT want to jump out of the film I’m watching to scroll to my apps menu, open the Wikipedia app and type in the movie title, then back out and go find my movie again. What I want is to be able to click ‘Menu’ when watching the movie and click the IMDb option. Then, knowing what movie I’m watching, the ‘app’ would show me its IMDb page and then go straight back to the movie when I want.
This isn’t an App model. This is a plugin model. And I think it wins over apps in every way.
Imagine the next type of app I’d want: content makers. For example, BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, Vimeo, Twit and everything else I’d like. Do I want to download separate apps for all these? Hell no. What I want is for Apple to provide a simple API to content makers that pulls their content right into the Apple TV. I browse some kind of content store where I add the various services I need. And, sure, they can charge a one off fee or sub fee like in the app store. But, just give me a stream on content I want to add. Not twenty different apps, all with different interfaces and different ways of doing things.
So, Apple, that’s what I want. I don’t want an app store. This is a TV. I want plugins and content.
I just hope you’re reading this.
