8 Apps the Apple TV Needs to Win the Set-Top-Box War

If Apple plans to transform the Apple TV from a hobby into a serious business capable of dominating the living room, here are the apps it needs to add.
Image may contain Electronics Monitor Display Screen Television TV Keyboard Computer and Computer Keyboard
The next apps to appear on the Apple TV could determine its future.Photo: Ariel Zambelich/Wired

A little less than a month ago, Apple extended its Apple TV offerings yet again when it added the Hulu Plus app. Tuesday, Apple pushed its own iTunes Festival app to the Apple TV, further expanding that lineup. Meanwhile, persistent rumors hint that the Apple TV is about to get an interface overhaul, giving it the ability to rearrange apps on screen, just as with iOS.

It's clear that Apple is devoting more and more resources to the Apple TV. Despite that, the current app offerings aren't quite compelling enough to convince the average person to cut the cable cord. If Apple plans to transform the Apple TV from a hobby into a serious business capable of dominating the living room, here are the apps it needs to add.

HBOGO

It's on the iPad, Kindle Fire and Xbox 360, and it's time to bring it to the Apple TV. HBO is notoriously protective of its original programming. You won't find a season of Game of Thrones or The Newsroom in the iTunes store until after the Blu-rays are on sale.

But, to appease HBO's customers, the premium channel released the HBOGO app with same-day streaming of original programming to various devices. Of course, to use the app, you still need to subscribe to the premium channel and your cable/satellite provider has to agree to allow the service to work for their customers. But, when the stars do align, it's a great app and streaming service that the Apple TV needs.

Plus, with only a little over 200 days until the premiere of season three of Game of Thrones, it's high time we got our Apple TVs and iPads ready for the HBOGO app's amazing interactive map feature for the show. For Winterfell!

Amazon Instant Video

Netflix streaming is a good deal at $8 a month. But Amazon Instant Video for Amazon Prime members is an even better score. In addition to the free shipping on select merchandise for $80 a year from the online retailer, Amazon Prime members get free access to a huge library of videos that rivals -- and in some instances, like the availability of Joe Versus the Volcano and The West Wing, surpasses -- the Netflix library. And yes, you can rent videos from Amazon too.

Amazon Instant Video recently hit on the iPad and there's no reason for it not to appear on the Apple TV.

Showtime Anytime

Like HBOGO, but for Showtime, the Showtime Anytime app brings the premium channel's original content to the iPhone and iPad. Use it to keep up with the murderous antics of Dexter and wonder just how far Marine Nicholas Brody will go in Homeland.

But just as with HBOGO, access to the app is dependent on your cable or satellite provider. Licensing issues aside, if Showtime Anytime arrived on the Apple TV, it would be the first set-top box to offer the service.

Rdio, Mog, Spotify, Rhapsody and Pandora

The Apple TV has a streaming radio app built in and supports Apple's streaming iTunes library service, iTunes Match. But with more and more music lovers subscribing to streaming music services from companies like Rdio and Spotify, it's about time those services appeared on the Apple TV.

Many moons ago, before HDTVs and home theatres, the best speakers in the house were connected to the home stereo. Now those high-end speakers are attached to the TV and its peripherals. Why not put those speakers to good use with music playing on the Apple TV being controlled by an iPad or iPhone?

The Big Four

ABC, CBS and NBC all have iPad apps. There's a Fox app as well, but we're pretty sure it's not official. And while Hulu delivers much of the content found on these apps, the networks have gotten savvy enough to branch out on their own.

Placing those apps in the Apple TV helps the networks' brand identity in the app world instead of being bundled with Hulu, and gives the Apple TV owners access to broadcast TV without subscribing to cable or busting out the bunny ears for over-the-air broadcasts.

iTunes U

Knowledge is power. The largely overlooked iTunes U is a wealth of knowledge. Educational videos and classes from universities like Harvard, Stanford and Caltech are all at your fingertips on the Mac, iPhone and iPad. Why not push that knowledge to the living room so the entire family can fill their brains with fancy book learning?

Apple already has access to the content, why not put a dedicated app on the Apple TV? It's not as sexy as HBOGO, but if you want to learn about the science of bicycles, there's no better place to look.

Game Center

Game Center hasn't exactly taken off since Apple brought it into OS X. With only 18 games in the Mac App Store's Game Center area, it's not exactly one of Apple's success stories. But, if those games were brought to the Apple TV, that could spur the gaming network's adoption.

The Apple TV can't compete with the pure processing power of the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, but it can be used to leverage the games already available on iOS. Turn-based and racing games would benefit greatly from integration with the Apple TV. The playing field or track would be displayed on an HDTV while the controls would reside on an iPhone or iPad.

Aereo

For those with spotty over-the-air reception, cable subscriptions are often the best option to watch programming from the major networks. That is until Aereo arrived on the scene. The subscription service is cheaper than a cable/satellite subscription and offers streaming access to live TV. The service even features DVR capabilities.

This on the Apple TV would be a game changer. Apple would circumvent the cable providers and content creators by accessing freely available, over-the-air broadcasts and streaming them to the Apple TV. DVR capabilities would appease the video-on-demand crowd. And coupled with other apps and services, the Apple TV could end up being the centerpiece of a cord-cutter's dream setup.

The only problem, Aereo is currently a web client, not an app. Of course, that could change with a little financial incentive from a certain deep-pocketed company in Cupertino.