“When Apple launched only a puny update to its fourth generation Apple TV back in May (as reported here), you couldn’t help but feel that the tech giant was just treading water ahead of unveiling much more substantial new features at its Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco,” John Archer writes for Forbes. “And so it’s proved, with Apple using its traditional opening WWDC presentations to launch a genuinely substantial raft of new Apple TV features – two of which, at least, finally potentially put a beating heart into Apple’s previously rather lifeless box of TV tricks.”
“The single most important feature is the addition of ‘live TV’ services to Apple TV’s app offering,” Archer writes. “Apple has done deals with, among others, Dish Network for its Sling TV platform (which is launching now, complete with a discounted Apple TV purchase price deal detailed here) and Fox for its Live Fox Sports Go service (launching later in the summer), bringing dozens of live channels to Apple TV users via the fourth generation box’s app-based tvOS platform.”
“The other really major new tvOS feature Apple announced at the WWDC is support for games that require an MFi joystick to play,” Archer writes. “Apple itself didn’t make a particularly big deal out of this development, but for me allowing game developers to break free of the shackles imposed by the previous requirement to ensure that all games were controllable via the main Siri remote has massive implications for the quality, variety and sophistication of the games Apple TV might now be able to deliver.”
Much more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: With each update, since its inception, Apple TV gets ever more intriguing. Hopefully, Apple will next drop skinny bundles and a 4K-capable Apple TV on us this autumn!
SEE ALSO:
Apple TV’s new single sign-on may not work with your pay TV provider – June 13, 2016
Sling TV launches on Apple TV – June 13, 2016
Powerful new Siri capabilities and single sign-on coming to Apple TV – June 13, 2016