During its “Hello Again” event, Apple executives took some time to talk about TV, and then outlined how it plans on making it a bit easier to find content.
Following plenty of rumors, Apple did indeed announce a brand new, universal TV guide that will be available on the Apple TV with tvOS. With it, users will be able to scan trough aggregated content from a variety of different content providers, including Apple itself. In essence, this should make finding the perfect movie for a night, or the next show to binge, a bit easier than simply jumping in and out of apps.
Apps are still important, though. The company confirmed there are 8,000 apps for the tvOS App Store, with 2,000 of those being games. Minecraft is headed to the Apple TV as well, including multiplayer support that offers playing together with friends on iPads and iPhones. There are 1,600 apps from content providers.
Which led Apple to the navigation of that content. Universal search was just the beginning. Apple wants the Apple TV to be the one place for a unified TV experience, to access all of the user’s TV shows and movies. That new feature is an app called TV.
The service aggregates a variety of content from different providers, including HBO Now, Hulu, Showtimes, and many others. There is an easy input method to browse through that content, as well as dig in to app channels and their content. The Watch Now feature will let users jump into content they’ve been able to watch, binge, and start fresh.
The Library is where all of the content is available that someone has purchased.
There’s a Store section as well, which allows customers to buy new apps that will be included within the aggregated content. The new Single Sign-On feature is implemented in the feature for apps installed, making it simple to log into any app that’s locked behind a cable subscription with a single log-in function.
The new TV app is also available for iOS, and the Watch Now and Library categories are present for easy accessibility. Siri is also available in the iOS app, letting users use their voice to find content.
There are apps that allow viewers to jump into live content, like news channels, and now Siri can be utilized to jump into that. Asking Siri to watch CBS, for instance, will go into a live news feed. And asking Siri to watch a specific football team, or other sport team, the Apple TV will open the necessary app and jump right in. Siri will also show schedules for upcoming games, and show which games can be watched live.
The TV app launches for tvOS and iOS in the United States sometime in December.
Developing…
