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Apps on Apple TV?

J

JustinDaigle

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 11, 2011
93
3
So my Xbox just RRoD'd, and after a really crappy support experience, I've decided not to buy another one. Ever.

I've been talking to various people about the possibility of apps on the Apple TV, and whether they think it'll happen. Unfortunately, the responses I've heard range from "not anytime soon" to "not at all." I'd like to hear the community's opinions on why they think the Apple TV will/will not get support for apps.

My reasoning supporting the theory that Apple TV will soon support apps:
A. Apple TV sales thus far haven't really been much less dismal than always. It still doesn't really do anything new or exciting.
B. It runs iOS. The only benefit this gives it that the old ATV was lacking is a good platform for app support.
C. There are rumors going around that the new Apple TV will feature an A5 processor. Apple has always showcased the A5 as more power good for gaming. Seems like this would be the main reason for an A5 in the ATV as well. Furthermore, it's unlike Apple to upgrade hardware without some new software feature(s) to take advantage of it.
D. At $99, the Apple TV would have a serious advantage over other consoles if Apple decided to compete in this arena.
E. So far iOS 5 for Apple TV is pretty boring. Photo Stream and AirPlay mirroring? There's gotta be "one more thing." (and it would be logical to announce this with a new, A5-powered Apple TV)
F. Apple seems to be good at giving the users what they want lately. Copy and paste was the biggest demand for iOS 3, multitasking for iOS 4, and notifications for iOS 5. Pretty sure apps are the biggest request for the Apple TV at this point.

Once again, I'd like to hear everyone else's thoughts. Will the Apple TV get app support now, later, or never?
 
It's got iOS so should be easy tO get apps at some point over and above what is already out. But I think they want to keep it manly intended for use as a media interface to iTunes and movie rentals
 
Yeah, but so far how's that selling? Not very well. As far as I know, still not any better than the original Apple TV.
The thing is, nobody's got a reason to buy that.
While I use neither Netflix nor iTunes movie rentals, the fact of the matter is Netflix is far superior to iTunes movie rentals, and every game console and even several modern TV's can access Netflix.
Apple TV, at this point, does nothing unique.
I'd imagine Apple is well aware that bringing apps to the Apple TV would seriously boost its sales.
http://appadvice.com/appnn/2010/09/steve-jobs-apple-tv-app-store-possibility
Steve Jobs himself even said that apps on the Apple TV are possible.
Ultimately, the question comes down to, will that be sooner or later?
 
Yes, but....

As much as I want apps for Apple TV too, the fact of the matter is that the existing apps are not necessarily universal with the screen size of TVs. So what Apple would need is to have existing developers adjust their Apps for yet another platform. While this worked for the iPad due to overwhelming demand of the device and market-leadership, the Apple TV is far from being (or even becoming) the market-leader, which will in turn slow down the development of apps (if there will be any in the first place)

You can't really compare the success of the App Store on iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with one on Apple TV. Developers will be the ones that make a platform a success and I feel like as there is no clear indication of a market-leader as of yet, so no one wants to bank on a platform and start develop for it. This is also why my Samsung Internet-connected TV (pre-Smart TV) has a selection of a mere 15 apps in its marketplace.

So, I'm thinking, even if Apple will launch apps for Apple TV, it will be a much slower success than App Stores on the other iOS devices.

The Mac App Store is a good example - Lion has been out for a while and while we would have seen a ton of apps having been updated for new iOS releases, Lion supported apps are still scarse.
 
Maybe the adoption/success rate for AppleTV apps would be slower than for other variants of iOS. That's cool.

And screen size isn't so important with AppleTV apps. The key there is aspect ratio. Apple designed the AppleTV to work only on TVs that are 16x9. So as long as on-screen elements can be seen at the distance the consumer typically sits from the television, no problem there.
 
i think they found their way around the apps thing. its more expensive but in iOS 5 airplay mirroring will be added. You use your iPad as the controller and system will the apple tv just puts it on the display. personally i hope for apps at some point as its hard with the iPad especially on games you need to touch. the problem is the current Apple TV only has 8 gb of storage so that might not be enough for games unless they were streamed. we will see.
 
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