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Brightcove announced today that it is moving at full steam to help developers create dual-screen television apps for Apple TV using its HTML app platform.
Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire is quite outspoken about Apple’s elusive television set (which jibes with our take), but aside from sounding off about the rumored product not being an actual HDTV, he showcased how streaming high-definition content from an iOS device through Apple TV is an ideal range of interactivity for app developers to tackle.
Brightcove launched its cloud-based App Cloud platform for painlessly building mobile apps just over a year ago, but now the company is making available a free version equipped with an open source SDK and a toolkit for the dual-screen applications market.
According to TechCrunch:
It’s more or less a freemium model for app building. With App Cloud Core you can build and release as many apps as you want. But if you want features like real-time analytics, push notifications, and native ads, you can upgrade to App Cloud Pro for $99 a month. And for those who need an even more robust feature set, there’s an enterprise version for high-volume apps with custom pricing plans based upon usage.
In addition to open sourcing App Cloud, it’s also pushing one particular feature set, which could change the way we watch TV. Its App Cloud Dual-Screen Solution for Apple TV uses a set of APIs that will allow tablet and mobile users to have a truly integrated second screen experience. By leveraging Apple’s AirPlay technology, App Cloud users can create applications that use the mobile device as the search and navigation, while the Apple TV plays back video.
Developers could already build dual-screen apps for streaming through Apple TV, but not many leverage the tech. Brightcove’s App Cloud allows quick development of both iOS and Android apps with nominal programming due to its WYSIWYG-like editor. It also offers rich templates for apps, with code customization, and a tool to make changes before submission.
Dual-screen apps take full advantage of Apple’s AirPlay, which will work with Macs in the upcoming Mountain Lion OS and could open a new interactive level for them.
According to The Verge:
The Verge further spoke with several sources about the future of Apple TV. One of the stirring ideas concerned apps being more like television channels:
“The mythical Apple television set that everyone talks about is already here,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove, sipping an iced cappuccino with The Verge on a particularly hot New York morning. “Airplay is the trojan horse that has put connected TVs into every household with a iPhone or an iPad.”
Boxee CEO Avner Ronen even contended, “Airplay is the most interesting by far.”
“The stuff I have heard about recently, what they are working on with Airplay, just makes my head spin,” said David Pakman, a venture capitalist with Venrock, who previously joined Apple in 1991 and went on to co-create the Apple Music Group in 1995. “With Airplay, all the pieces of the puzzle are in place in a way that simply isn’t true for any other big tech company.”
Rumors about Apple’s future with television have buzzed around the blogosphere ever since Walter Issacson revealed the company “cracked the code” on reinventing the Tube in his biography on Steve Jobs. It is still questionable as to whether Apple will produce a physical set, but atleast Brightcove’s Dual-Screen Solution will boost the creation of apps that make use of existing living room displays through our favorite Cupertino products and software.
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