Top Apple TV Apps Revealed With Games Topping the Lists

[macfoxpro]

Someone should create a "Category Of ATV Apps" app.
Would sell like hotcakes

 

[warrior2000]

I disagree completely. My family used it extensively all weekend. Gaming, movie streaming via itunes, netflicks, and my ripped movies on my iMac.

I get that the discoverability thing is an issue, but I think they will straighten that up in short time. It may of even been planned for the sake of the launch to focus on featured apps.

Besides that, what the heck else is "half-finished"?

Exactly.

I'm pretty sure the big boys like Netflix, Hulu, and the big gaming publishers paid big $$ to be on the featured list on launch. And its a good idea by Apple and the publishers. Let people find and download the 'core apps' first and then start categories once there is enough content.

it would be stupid to have a Puzzle Games category and the #10 ranked game is a total piece of CRAP because there isn't 10 great puzzle games released at launch.

Apple is smarter than us. You may not understand their strategy but they usually get stuff right.

 

[jimbobb24]

So developers don't like that their apps are invisible and users don't like that there are no categories to find apps. That does seem like a problem that is searching for a solution from Apple. Lets hope it gets fixed soon.

 

[izzle22]

The person I was responding to mentioned something, and I answered. Maybe they didn't know the story. Not everyone reads every piece of Apple news.

Also nobody was whining - except you now...



It's a rumours site, what do you expect? People will speculate.

Sorry. Just knew going into the comments on this article someone would have something to say about the Amazon app or the lack of. This was not directed at you in anyway.

 

[ginkobiloba]

Nope it isn't. Read the TOS. No where does it say Apple is obligated to put your App on a list or even create a list in the first place.

Nowhere does it say that Tv Apps will be treated differently than any other content in the Apple ecosystem. It's just common sense to expect that they will be treated like the rest.

Go make your own App store if you want to make up the rules.

Lol. Making it easy for people to spend money on their products is Apple's goal. Yours is to make up sacred shrines and to protect it from the infidels. I'm not sure even Apple itself is that demanding. Let them do their job. They rushed the product out of the door, and they're are now being critisized for it, because their clients expect a higher level of quality from Apple than from other competing companies.

 

[Jeremy1026]

pound the pavement. Go advertise on Twitter, facebook, ect.

Thats your job to marketing not Apple.

Twitter, MR, TouchArcade, Reddit, have all been thoroughly spammed. Don't worry about that. And I'm at the point where I'm not going to keep jamming it down peoples throats, because as a consumer I can't stand that ****.

 

[warrior2000]

For those who want categories think for a moment.

Do you really want to see a list of top Action Games if there isn't even enough games yet?

If so there would be totally crap games ranked in the top20. You would a crap game like Ted's Snorefest in the top20 and a ton of people will buy it just because its in the top20. There needs to be enough good content before Apple can make category lists.

If there are only 1,000 Apps right now than you know for sure that with 100+ categories there would be a ton of ABSOLUTE DOG CRAP in many of those top 20 lists.

 

[John Mcgregor]

No browsable categories?

Does not Compute.

It's alpha testing on a population what do you want.

 

[warrior2000]

Nowhere does it say that Tv Apps will be treated differently than any other content in the Apple ecosystem. It's just common sense to expect that they will be treated like the rest.



Lol. Making it easy for people to spend money on their products is Apple's goal. Yours is to make up sacred shrines and to protect it from the infidels. I'm not sure even Apple itself is that demanding. Let them do their job.

My point is these devs have no leg to stand on in demanding Apple release categories IMMEDIATELY. Of course Apple will do categories when THERE IS ENOUGH CONTENT FOR IT TO MAKE SENSE.

Again if there are only 1,000 Apps and there are 100+ categories you know damn well that there would be far too much TOTAL DOG CRAP that would end up on top20 lists.

 

[warrior2000]

Twitter, MR, TouchArcade, Reddit, have all been thoroughly spammed. Don't worry about that. And I'm at the point where I'm not going to keep jamming it down peoples throats, because as a consumer I can't stand that ****.

If you App is truly great you won't have to jam it down people's throats.

By the way I'll try your App latter today on my AppleTV

 

[LarryJW]

"Search" doesn't work! I just get a spinner in the middle of my TV.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I don't get what the obsession with top lists is. They have always been pretty useless to me. First, being on a top list based on popularity is sort a self-fulfilling prophecy - being on top of a list ensures you will stay at the top of the list. Second, nearly all the useful apps I have were discovered through personal recommendations (friends, family, coworkers), online recommendations (some users on this forum give very helpful suggestions), and tech blogs.

For example, I picked up an iPad Air 2 last year and I wanted it to be useful for work. I decided I needed a good PDF reader and annotator. Going to the top list of business/productivity was totally useless. On the contrary, it was useful to read people's experiences on here and read industry blog posts of the industry I work in. I found a good PDF reader, bought it, and I happily use it and recommend it to others now: PDF Expert 5.

Even though AppleTV is more about entertainment, I don't see this discovery process being so different. Do people really put that much faith into top lists?

 

[Rogifan]

Does this mean the new  business model is for customers to hope that new products/software might eventually work properly? (TV, El Capitan, iPhone updates, etc)

At twice the cost of the previous TV one would think it would "just work" right out of the box.

How do you define "just work"? I've been using mine all weekend just fine. I've not once had an app that doesn't work. I've not had any issues with the box, remote or software. Sure there are things I've complained about in the TV forum. But to say the device doesn't "just work" out of the box is ridiculous. And seeing as Apple showed off a screen shot of the App Store with the ability to search based on categories and top lists it's obvious that will be coming in an update. I don't know why it why it wasn't there on launch day. My only guess is there's not a lot of apps available yet and Apple would rather not highlight that fact now. I think it's ridiculous for developers to be complaining about discoverability on a device that's only been on sale for four days. Of course in this day and age one person can rant on Twitter and it gets turned into some major thing as if all developers are up in arms about this.

 

[Karma*Police]

No browsable categories?

Does not Compute.

Yeah, that was my first reaction too. Maybe Apple didn't have enough apps to warrant categories? That's my guess.

 

[Rogifan]

I don't know about that. I would hate to be a developper and be told "Thanks for your app, but since there aren't enough apps to justify having categories, yours will just remain invisible and no one will accidently discover you "

So the only way to discover an app is via categories in the App Store? Really?

 

[ginkobiloba]

So the only way to discover an app is via categories in the App Store? Really?

Of course not. But a lot of people ( me included) discover interesting apps just by browsing around... Especially from small developpers making niche applications and without huge marketing power.

Look, if categories didn't matter, they wouldn't even exist anywhere in the Apple store ecosystem.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Rayman Adventures must love this. Rayman Origins was already a two-bit platformer, IMO, but you can't even get THAT here. This is a watered-down smart phone game brought to AppleTV because that's the only type of game this thing can handle. For $200, I'd expect more (you know like 4K support and an actual Amazon viewer that a $39 stick has) but here it's a huge hit because it's the best this POS can do.

you mean $150, not 200.

and if youre expecting a hardcore console for that, youre wanting it wrong. as they made clear, its for the same types of games you see on iOS -- more casual oriented.

its not a POS. its a great device that does far more than ATV3, and i love it. claim it's a POS just means youre trying to be negative. we have a word for that which starts with T.

They need to sort this quickly otherwise developers aren't going to bother at all and go elsewhere.

er, where? hows the app community for ChromeCast? FireStick? yeah. i think theyll be with apple for a long time...especially if the same universal app package works for both iphone/ipad/appleTV

 

[JDuggan]

Really surprised to see Netflix sitting at 31.

 

[Jeremy1026]

If you App is truly great you won't have to jam it down people's throats.

By the way I'll try your App latter today on my AppleTV

You do to get people to try it. Once it gets traction it goes on it's own. But you don't go "hey look this app is great" and it automatic. You have to tell people over and over and over and over and over to get them to even have them give a chance. Especially when they have to do the leg work of searching it out instead of simply clicking a link and being taken to a download page.

 

[newdeal]

The media providers (NBC, ABC, CBS, ESPN, and any number of other letter combinations) and their partner distributions channels (Comcast, DirecTV/AT&T, DISH, etc.) have a vested interest in keeping you from getting your channels easily over your choice of streaming devices. Many of the aforementioned media providers and distribution channels are owned by the same companies.

Many many years ago, before we started down the dark road of pay television broadcast television was supported by commercials. And then we got the gee whiz moment when we started being allowed to pay for television that "didn't have commercials." But as time has gone on the media companies have slowly but surely worked toward putting the commercially supported, "free" channels (or more specifically the programming from those free channels that's worth watching) out of reach of their customers. The FCC requires that broadcasters still broadcast their channels over the air for free, but they would gladly stop doing that if they could. But they can't. So instead what they have done is move so much of the content that we used to watch "for free" supported by commercials to channels that you can no longer get without subscribing.

That's why you can no longer see your home town baseball team play unless you're willing to subscribe to cable or satellite (or act illegally). Were you aware that you couldn't even watch the MLB playoffs this year unless you subscribe to cable or satellite? Up until the World Series all playoff games were on pay television. Sure, MLB would sell you a live streaming package for a fairly nominal fee. But you couldn't subscribe to it unless you have an active cable or satellite account.

Most of what I wrote above is already known to a lot of people. But until and unless people look at the historical and evolutionary nature of television versus where we are today they get no perspective on what role their actions have in the grand scheme of things.

The only way that things will get any better is if we as consumers say that we are not going to play the game anymore. I, personally recently cut the cord on my satellite package, and get my local channels over the air with an OTA DVR. I will miss my local baseball team's games next year, and that will be painful. But I will no longer support a system that wants to put a meter on things that are also supported by advertising. It's time that we, as consumers start forcing real economic lessons on the video media producers, just like we did on music labels and newsprint companies.

I get all the major networks over the air for free. The shows still have the same number of commercials if I watch them on cable. The issue as you stated is that the cable companies and the content companies are often owned by the same company. They don't want you to cut the cord, they want to make it hard for you to do so. Unfortunately for them internet is fast, shows can be streamed easily, and the harder they make it to watch their content the more people are going to pirate it. Its going the same way as the napster era of music, except it took longer because it took awhile for internet speeds to allow it. The best they can do is fight places like popcorn time etc but fighting the internet is futile. I will never have a cable package again, if that means I have to go to streaming sites to watch the Blue Jays in the playoffs then so be it

 

[ginkobiloba]

Really surprised to see Netflix sitting at 31.

And that's all it deserves. It's the worst implementation of Netflix on any platform (Even worse than the previous one, but at least they probably had some influence from Apple for that one wich prevented it from being terrible. This one looks like it's designed by some clueless teenaged Netflix interns ). There are two threads just about that app.

 

[69Mustang]

How do you define "just work"? I've been using mine all weekend just fine. I've not once had an app that doesn't work. I've not had any issues with the box, remote or software. Sure there are things I've complained about in the TV forum. But to say the device doesn't "just work" out of the box is ridiculous. And seeing as Apple showed off a screen shot of the App Store with the ability to search based on categories and top lists it's obvious that will be coming in an update. I don't know why it why it wasn't there on launch day. My only guess is there's not a lot of apps available yet and Apple would rather not highlight that fact now. I think it's ridiculous for developers to be complaining about discoverability on a device that's only been on sale for four days. Of course in this day and age one person can rant on Twitter and it gets turned into some major thing as if all developers are up in arms about this.

I think the "just works" complaint isn't exclusive to Apple. But since this topic is about the ATV, the complaint is applicable. Not sure when it became de rigueur to release products in an unfinished state and then patch in updates, but it's quite annoying. Again, this isn't an Apple thing. Video game companies are probably the most notorious offenders. I think a lot of people have this unrealistic view of Apple being above the fray. They're not. Evidence of that is all through this thread: "My ATV works perfectly, but....", "I'm loving my ATV, only if...", "I'm glad I got it. I just wish...".

Just on general principle I don't buy release day/week/month products. Why? Because darn near all of them, from any vendor, will have glaring omissions that should have been handled before release. As a consumer, my expectation is a product that functions fully as advertised. For that product I will give you the full purchase price. Unless I am allowed to withhold a portion of my payment until the product is complete, I have a right to complain. Or I could not purchase the product until all of the updates are complete. That's what I do. I tend to be more satisfied with my purchases that way. To each his, or in your case, her own.

 

[SlipperySlop]

TV provider login is the biggest scam going.

That's absurd. Why is it a scam? If anything, the providers are giving you more than you originally had for no additional cost. I know you and many here expect everything for free simply because you feel entitled, but that's not real life. HBO charges for their programming. All they are doing is saying that if you already subscribe with your cable provider, they will allow you access on the apple tv simply by proving you are a subscriber. What's wrong with that? Sure, typing in that info may be a bit of a pain, but it's not like you have to do it every time.


Please prove your statement. How is it a scam? How is this taking advantage of you? Awaiting your response.

 

[patseguin]

Most fun game for me so far is Galaxy On Fire. Asphalt looks surprisingly good actually. Nothing like Forza 6 but the average Joe probably wouldn't really notice.

 

[2010mini]

They need a list of media apps that do not require TV provider login

Good luck with that.