Apple TV predictions
As a company with an Apple TV in every conference room, you can imagine how excited we were when the fourth-generation hardware and tvOS were finally announced at Apple’s “Hey Siri” event this past September. If you follow our Ask A Dev series, you’ve probably heard us pining for it ever since this year’s WWDC.
Well, the wait is over, and our patience has been rewarded with all sorts of upgrades. There’s 2GB of ram and a new A8 chip for faster streaming and gaming. There’s the new Siri Remote with dual microphones, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a glass touch panel, and of course, Siri integration. Apple has also provided support for third-party gaming controllers, however, they still require all games be playable on the Siri Remote.
As wonderful as these advancements are, what we’re really looking forward to is tvOS. Our developers and designers have tackled every screen size from the ones that fit on your wrist to cinema displays on your desk, but they have never had the opportunity to tinker with the centerpiece of your entertainment system–until now.
To get an idea of how some of our experts aim to harness this new screen real estate, we went around and asked what kind of tvOS applications they’ve been dreaming about since the announcement.
Apple TV predictions
HomeKit
Sean McMains, iOS Associate Director
Sean’s out-of-the-box thinking around HomeKit opened up all sorts of opportunities to take the Apple TV from an entertainment device to a smart home hub, especially in the kitchen. Just imagine Siri managing your shopping list, a connected barcode scanner that helps us inventory your supplies and identify dishes you can make without running to the store, and a Smart Fork to keep you from eating your food to fast. With Apple TV’s bluetooth capabilities, we can connect just about anything–as long as Apple allows it.
Efficiency Tools
Marty Burolla, Senior iOS Engineer
Senior iOS engineer Marty Burolla dreamed of a customizable dashboard that makes it easier to manage your day-to-day life. He mentioned features like a live weather report, an event calendar, and the ability to quickly reorder the items he goes through most frequently, like pizza and guitar strings.
Fitness
Ryan Considine, Senior Visual Designer I
Ryan Considine is no stranger to Apple TV speculation, as heard on our TechTable podcast. In addition to the thoughts he expressed in the episode embedded below, Ryan gave us an idea of how Apple TV will shake up the fitness industry. He also gave us an imaginative example of an interactive game where users connect their treadmill to the Apple TV via bluetooth and run away from flesh-eating zombies, gaining points according to how hard they are running.
Social
Dan Murrell, Senior iOS Engineer
Dan Murrell concentrated on the social possibilities of the connected TV, brainstorming a bunch of ways in which viewers can use their device to hold virtual viewing parties or tweet without the need for their phone. He’s also excited about the way Apple TV can turn your living room into a classroom, allowing users to take everything from guitar lessons to college lectures without ever leaving their couch.
As you can tell, our wheels are already spinning around the infinite use cases for Apple’s latest industry disrupter, and we can’t wait to start experimenting with the hardware once it arrives at our offices and door steps. Until then, stay tuned for deeper dives into how we intend to integrate tvOS into our homes, workout routines, and viewing parties.
Originally published on Mutual Mobile, “Apple TV predictions and pleas.”
