Agree,
They should have asked the developers to start making the apps ready for a upcoming app store.
Every year is just another with apple tv. just a hobby.
I disagree. I think they *are* asking developers to start making their apps ready for an ATV app store, but in a way that doesn't require them to announce the product yet.
The vast majority of apps they'll probably sell are games (there are only so many channel apps we need or want), and the one thing that all iOS games need is a new way to control them that isn't touch. Enter last year's MFi standard for game controllers. I consider that step one. They're working the kinks out of non-touch interfacing with iOS apps, and they're doing it on the sly.
Next, they improve the graphics capabilities of apps by giving them direct access to hardware, thereby improving the quality of gaming in current hardware (granted, it's for A7 I believe, but we can assume any new ATV will sport an A7 or later variant). This little product, supporting games with even better graphics capabilities than the current devices support, will sell like mad and provide gaming in the living room to a huge swath of the population that either doesn't own a console, or never turns the one on they have. 20 million ATVs already sold, with no gaming, one way further into the living room is gaming, they just need to do it right without going head to head against the big guys.
They're going very slowly, I fully agree, but these steps are definitely moving them closer to opening an ATV app store, without making any official ATV app store announcements. If they discover any blocks along the way, they simply don't take the final step, and given they've announced nothing, they lose nothing and aren't considered a company that announces things, then either 1) never releases them, 2) releases them stupidly late, or 3) pulls their support for the product not long after release (any of these sound familiar?).
