17th
Some update on the Apple TV
Some weeks ago before Steve Jobs announced the new Apple TV, I wrote my predictions on what would be the new Apple TV. I was almost certain the Apple TV would come the capability of having apps, your iDevice or the new Magic Pad acting as a touchpad.
After the release I had more question than answers. If it has the same A4 chip and iOS 4.0, does it means it should be able to have apps? Today MacRumors confirms that it is far possible that the new Apple TV would get apps, stating that it has the same iOS and 16 GB of memory. I just hope they are right.
The other question I had was about the new capability of the Apple TV to received over-the-air music, videos and photos from the upcoming iOS 4.2 AirPlay. Would it be possible to stream from any application using the iOS video player? If so it means that it would be possible to stream any video formats to Apple TV with an application like Air Video app and not be limited to iTunes.
MacRumors today do not confirm it, but lets see some hope. One developer who has the iOS 4.2 beta succeed to stream the audio of some videos from his iPad to his AirPort Express using the following apps: Safari, YouTube, Netflix, iPod, BBC News, MLB and Videos. On the other hand one customer, Marlon Sabala, emailed Steve Jobs to know if any video playback would be able to AirPlay or only iTunes stuff. Steve Jobs simply replied: “Everything played in the Videos app”.
We need to wait until an Apple TV is available for some developers to test it. In any case I’m sure someone would find a way to jailbreak the Apple TV using its micro-USB port.
UPDATE: Looks like Daring Fireball is also on board with me.
