You can watch movies, play video games and launch apps.
It seems the revamped Apple TV, which was unveiled Wednesday (September 9) in San Francisco, might make for the perfect distraction for those avoiding work duties.
But its new capabilities are actually a perfect fit for business-to-business (B2B) applications, according to B.C. developers.
“iPhone pricing in Canada is pretty bad,” said Andrew Lau, a product manager and developer at Vancouver’s Elastic Path Software.
“Only thing I'll get right away is the Apple TV.”
During Wednesday’s unveiling, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook was blunt when he assessed the TV experience hasn’t changed much in decades.
“We believe the future of television is apps,” he told an auditorium packed full on tech geeks.
It’s the focus on apps that’s catching the eyes of developers who see the Apple TV as more than a consumer-facing device.
The new hardware features a remote with a glass-touch surface allowing users to glide through an overhauled interface on their TV sets.
It also responds to voice-activated requests through its Siri feature and allows multi-user options, so people can use their iPhones as controllers to play video games or run apps as a group on a TV screen.
“You have a very interesting combination of technologies in a lightweight, portable unit,”said Conquer Mobile co-founder Aaron Hilton, whose Surrey-based firm develops virtual reality simulations to train medical professionals.
He added the device will excel at facilitating B2B applications and could pose a major threat to gaming giants like Nintendo.
“It’s a perfect ecosystem play across the board for looking at familiar tools for developers,” Hilton said.
“We could go a long way creating group-training scenarios pretty easily with this device that’s pretty inexpensive to attach (to a TV).”
