The next gen Apple TV was announced last week. It has been redesigned to better suit its target demographic. It has an overhauled Siri, which comes with a new search function and also its very own App Store.
Apple CEO Tim Cook noted, during the announcement, that the future of television is apps. Therefore, expect a plethora of Apple TV apps in the near future.
This also means that we’ll witness a ton more new apps that were not available for the earlier versions of Apple’s TV. The first to see the light on day on Apple’s TV will be Plex and VLC.
Jean-Baptiste Kemp, one of the lead developers of VLC, unveils that video playback is now possible. He has been also reported of saying that Plex, who he co-founded, will be available on Apple’s new platform. It’s only a time of evaluating their position and which path it’s best to take Plex on.
This isn’t shocking news, but still it’s important, not only for the Cupertino-based company. With these new Apple TV apps, users will have the possibility to stream local content to their box-of-wonders using different devices. This frees up the dependency of using Apple’s pre-installed online streaming services.
Plex will be available on Apple TV soon, founders note.
This is relevant in countries like India and any other place where Netflix’s presence is absent. Apple’s TV, or Amazon’s Fire TV, turns from a highly-appreciated device into a literally useless box in 5 seconds flat.
These Apple TV apps aren’t revolutionary. That’s not the case. They have been available for the majority of Android-enabled set-top-boxes. In India they are witnessing a surge of popularity.
An Android set-top box manufacturer reports that the most used app on his product is YouTube. Following in second, third and fourth place are Plex, XMBC and VLC.
Their target demo for India is going to be different than what Apple has been focusing on in Europe or the US. Yet, it’s a great sign that the big A is starting to focus on markets like China and India.
Huawei and Xiaomi have been relentlessly trying to push their products there and they have achieved brand recognition, among other things.
Huawei is also a big player in Europe. Their smartphones product-line is starting to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung. It’s just a matter of time until Huawei has the perfect opportunity to go deeper into the set-top box market in Europe and US.
