Why Your App Should Support Apple TV and its Alternatives
In September 2015 Apple unveiled the new Apple TV. Like every product announcement, the word “revolutionary” was used (and abused) countless times. It had improved hardware, and a new controller, but the star of the presentation was definitely the new TVOS.
Almost 6 months later, some software updates have been released, many problems got solved, but the essence of the TVOS remains unchanged. For the good, and mostly, for the bad.
The essence of the TVOS remains unchanged. For the good, and mostly, for the bad.
The world of Smart TVs and media players isn’t a new one. And this time, Apple might not have been the pioneer — so what does TVOS really bring to the table?
The tech world is made of differences, but in the world of Smart TVs these seem to be even bigger. With TV manufacturers producing them, tech companies create smart “media boxes”, and Google providing USB sticks for your TV — what actually makes TVOS stand out from alternatives?
What actually makes TVOS stand out?
One of the big changes in Apple’s 4th generation TV was the opening of its “development” gates. By this I mean the possibility of having 3rd party apps inside an Apple TV. So the question arises, should there be a TV version of your app? If yes, should it be on Apple TV or elsewhere?
Let’s try to answer some of these questions.
The Features.
The new Apple TV is a big evolution from its predecessor. The 3rd generation TV was often criticized for its “closed system” with no 3rd party apps, weak input methods and an overall average experience. Users from outside the US criticized it even more, arguing that almost all of the content available was US-exclusive. Additionally, one of the main reasons customers bought the TV was not for its potential as a standalone device, but its qualities as a MacBook companion. Even though support for Airplay was there, customers were not satisfied with the slow and frequently unreliable connections.
International users criticized Apple TV by saying that almost all of the content was only available in the US.
With these critiques in mind, Apple decided to overhaul the product. The hardware changed, with 2GB of RAM in a considerably bigger device. The new Apple TV is twice as large as its ancestor. Furthermore, the new remote is one of the core transformations, providing an embedded touchpad, new buttons, IR support, and the much anticipated Siri support.
All of these hardware modifications hide something much more interesting inside of them: The new Apple TV software: TVOS.
Apple (finally) opening the gates for 3rd party development.
TVOS is a different take on the Apple TV. It has a redesigned UI that features a whitish color scheme and a more spacious home screen. Yet, it’s not all about the design, in this new OS you also have a completely redesigned App Store, with Apple (finally) opening the gates for 3rd party development. You can also use Siri to launch apps, search content in your home screen and even ask for weather or results from your favorite sport teams. None of these would be possible without the new redesigned remote with speech recognition.
Simply put, it’s like having an iPhone in your living room. However, the TV has some limitations, and even if it’s a good device, we can’t resist the temptation to say that it is full of unexplored potential.
The first thing to have in mind is that the TVOS has a lot of flaws and unjustified limitations. The leading one regards the input methods. Even if you have Siri and speech recognition, these are not available inside 3rd party apps. Take YouTube for example, if you want to search for a video, you still have to scroll through an endless number of letters and slowly type them one at the time. Needless to say that it takes ages. Multitasking also feels very slow, even with 2GB of RAM, when switching from app to app, the lag is uncomfortable. Another big flaw is the lack of a control center to tweak several settings quicker. That’s an aspect that pops up quite often — speed.
YouTube for example, if you want to search for a video, you still have to scroll through an endless number of letters and slowly type them one at the time
The second thing to have in mind is that the new Apple TV is a first generation product. Well, not the TV itself, but the new TVOS. So we can definitely expect some future software updates and improvements, to solve most of the limitations. So the future of TVOS is definitely promising, but does it really bring something new to the market? Let’s take a look at what’s already out there.
The Alternatives.
Chromecast by Google
The Chromecast isn’t exactly a competitor. How could it be? With an Apple TV you could buy 5 of these USB sticks. While Apple TV wants to be the technology hub of your living room, the Chromecast wants to empower your TV by making it an extension of your smartphone. The Chromecast allows you to mirror some apps like Youtube into a TV version on your big screen, you can also mirror your PC and that’s about it.
The Apple TV is a standalone device that has endless possibilities even with no smartphone or PC in sight. Even though Chromecast is an almost perfect device in terms of speed and simplicity, you can’t really compare it to a device that does so much more.
Fire TV by Amazon
Especially on the European market, this is Apple’s biggest alternative. It’s a close call. In terms of Apps and content Apple TV has more to offer. Even though Prime services are increasingly popular, Apple TV offers better Netflix integration and content, with abilities like “scale search” by using Siri.
Both devices have also advertised themselves as “mini-consoles” and even though they can’t even be compared with a PS4 or XBOX 360, they are pretty fun. Amazon’s remote and choice of apps seem to beat Apple in this category with a better selection of games, TV optimization and better remote (for gaming).
In terms of speed, Apple TV seems to be faster in spite of the Fire TV having better specs. But it all comes down to what exactly the user wants, if it’s streaming content, playing games or buying something. Of course, you also have to take into consideration what ecosystem the user is in, as this often defines his choice. An iPhone, iPad and/or Mac user is less likely to buy a Fire TV.
Why should you care?
Smart TV’s are still a growing technology — every Smart TV or media box is far from perfect. Then again, the first smartphone was pretty rough around the edges as well. The thing is, the Smart TV market shows no signs of slowing down and TV manufacturers like Samsung or LG have finally realized that it’s better for them to focus on image quality and let the major tech companies make their TV’s “smart”. Big tech companies like Apple, Amazon and Google are betting high on this technology, and so should you.
Big tech companies like Apple, Amazon and Google are betting high on this technology, and so should you
Nowadays for services like Netflix or Spotify the motto is to support as many platforms as possible. This rule is slowly becoming a norm for smaller companies as well. If you are present on only one platform, you have only one channel to connect with your user. If you support an iPhone app, a Mac app, an iPad app, and a TV app, you have several channels to do so. The more channels you have to connect with your users, the better are your chances of retaining and building a valuable relationship with them. And you should monitor your users carefully. For this, your analytics tool should work horizontally across channels. Just like Liquid’s.
The more channels you have to connect with your users, the better are your chances of retaining and building a valuable relationship with them.
Rovio and other game developers have already realized the potential of these devices. Smart TVs are definitely a bridge for games that were exclusively made for iOS, to steal a little bit of attention from bigger console manufacturers. Apple TV and Fire TV have the potential to compete with consoles like Wii, not because of the graphics, but simply because of the multiplayer-capable fun!
Build an even better relationship with your customer
Of course, the question remains: Should you support the these smart media players? And if so,which? Well, that all depends on what type of app you have. If you are content driven like an app for video, music, or pictures, you should extend to the Apple TV since it is more about watching then interacting. However, if you design games, the best platform for you to migrate might be the Fire TV because of its control capabilities. Of course this also depends on which platform you were before and, there’s no down-side in migrating to both! One thing is certain: the Apple TV is here to stay, so make it a tool you can use to build an even better relationship with your customer.
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