Apple TV应用开发者：我们很乐观

刘颖

When Apple announced the first update to Apple TV in more than three years, applications were at the heart of the announcement. Apps, as Apple would have you believe, are the future of television.

We’re still months—perhaps years—away from coming close to realizing that dream. But software developers are busy working on updating existing iOS apps, as well as creating all-new experiences, for a screen much larger than the one we carry around in our pockets or rest on a desk.

Fortune spoke with Scott Olechowski and Elan Feingold, co-founders of Plex, about the challenges and triumphs of developing their media collection app for Apple TV.

Users install the Plex app on a home computer or server. With it, a person can access his or her personal media libraries—spanning movies, TV shows, music, and photos—from anywhere and on nearly any device.

Until now, accessing a Plex library on the Apple TV required enough tech-savvy to implement workarounds that made the app more work than it was worth for most users. The company also offers apps on other streaming platforms including Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV, and Microsoft’s Xbox One, but Apple TV was always a no-brainer, Olechowski says.

“We wanted to do this for years,” Olechowski said. “The bigger debate was can we move enough stuff aside and get enough people? And would the platform be cooperative enough for us to be [in the App Store] at launch?”

Plex developed its Apple TV app in five weeks. That short span came thanks to the company’s access to two development Apple TV units used for prototyping and testing the finished product. The development cycle was also accelerated by Apple’s development tools, which allowed Plex to reuse “80% to 90% of the core code” found in its iOS app to power its Apple TV app. (The Apple TV is powered by tvOS, a similar but different operating system than iOS.) Feingold estimates developing the same “caliber” of app for another platform would have taken five to 10 times longer.

Though Plex didn’t need to rethink how its app would function on a larger screen—its purpose fundamentally incorporates that perspective—many other software developers aren’t as lucky. For example, we’ve grown used to real estate apps from Airbnb and Zillow on the small screens of smartphones and tablet computers. But what should they look like on a full-size television? Does the same experience still make sense?

For that reason, neither company is positioning its Apple TV app as a direct replacement for its mobile and desktop offerings. Airbnb framing its app as a means to get ideas and spark interest in new vacation spots, by presenting destinations, and highlighting places available for rent. Airbnb is putting its photo catalog on display, highlighting places you can stay in each destination. You can’t read reviews, or check availability using your TV. Users can save places using the TV app, for further research and completing the reservation through the website or mobile app.

Zillow’s approach is to help its users stay up to date on local real estate trends. More interestingly, the company has added its Zillow TV platform to the app. Users can watch videos containing home improvement inspiration and tips, a feature previously only accessible through Zillow’s website.

Fortune also asked various developers about the impact that Apple’s file size requirement (all Apple TV apps must be less than 200 megabytes) would have on the development process. Most quickly pointed out that Apple has provided developers with a tool it calls “On-Demand Resources” making it possible for apps to download content, such as new levels in games, only when needed. Game development company Hibernum rebuilt one of its titles, Bruce Lee: Enter the Game, for the Apple TV with help from the tool.

According to Louis-René Auclair, vice president and chief brand officer at Hibernum, the seemingly strict requirements will actually benefit the company’s apps in the long run. “With the ODR feature introduced by Apple, we were able to drastically decrease the required storage space. Once in place, the process was transparent for the development team,” Auclair said. “Since we’ve now explored this technology on the Apple TV, it will also allow us to take advantage of this feature on our future iOS mobile productions.”

The overall consensus among the software developers Fortune spoke with was one of excitement mixed with curiosity. No one truly knows what the app landscape is going to look like on the Apple TV several months down the road. Gaming and entertainment apps such as Plex are an obvious fit, but one has to help wonder what the breakthrough app for Apple TV is going to be.

Whatever it is, after talking to numerous developers, it’s clear the tools Apple has given developers of tvOS apps aren’t going to get in the way.

刘颖

在三年多的时间里，苹果公司首次宣布了苹果电视(Apple TV)的进展，这款产品的应用成为这次通报的核心内容。苹果要让人们相信，应用才是电视机的未来。

距离这个梦想的实现之日，可能还有好几个月，甚或好几年。但软件开发商正忙着为一个远远大于我们随身携带或者放在桌上的设备的屏幕，升级现有的iOS应用，并打造全新的使用体验。

那么，为Apple TV开发媒体应用时，开发者们究竟遇到了哪些挑战，目前已取得了哪些成就？针对这一问题，《财富》日前采访了Plex公司联合创始人斯科特•奥列乔斯基和艾朗•范戈尔德。

在家庭电脑或服务器上安装Plex应用之后，用户就可以随时随地使用几乎任何设备访问私人媒体库，浏览电影和电视节目，听音乐，看照片。

到目前为止，想要在Apple TV上访问Plex媒体库，需要足够的技术水平来实现一些变通办法。这些方法可使这款应用发挥更大的效果，但大多数用户都不必这样做。奥列乔斯基表示，公司还在其他流媒体平台如Roku、亚马逊Fire TV和微软Xbox One上提供了应用，不过Apple TV永远是一个无需动脑的选择。

奥列乔斯基表示：“我们多年来一直想做这件事。最大的问题是我们能否克服各种障碍，获得足够的用户？这个平台能否配合我们在应用商店发布这些应用？”

Plex只用了5周时间就开发出这款Apple TV应用。如此短的开发周期，还要归功于该公司获准使用两台用来进行原型设计和测试最终产品的Apple TV样机。而苹果的开发工具也让Plex得以重复利用iOS应用中“80%至90%的核心代码”来开发其Apple TV应用，从而缩短了开发周期。（Apple TV使用的tvOS系统与iOS有些类似，但它们是两个不同的系统。）范戈尔德预计，为其他平台开发类似规模应用所需的时间可能会增加5至10倍。

尽管Plex无需重新考虑其应用如何在更大的屏幕上运作（这正是他们开发这款应用的初衷之一），但其他许多软件开发商就没有这么幸运。例如，我们习惯于在智能手机和平板电脑的小屏幕上使用Airbnb和Zillow等房地产应用，但在全尺寸电视上，它们应该是什么样子？和小屏幕同样的使用体验仍然有意义吗？

出于这种原因，这两家公司都不打算将其Apple TV应用作为其移动和桌面应用的直接替代品。通过展示目的地，突出显示那些可租赁的房屋，Airbnb正在将其Apple TV应用作为一种获取想法、激发用户对新景点兴趣的途径。Airbnb正在展示其照片列表，突出显示用户在每个目的地可以留宿的地方。在电视上，你不能阅读评论或查阅其租赁状况。用户可以使用电视应用来保存那些地点，以备进一步研究，然后通过网页或移动应用完成预定流程。

Zillow的方式则是帮助用户了解当地房地产的最新信息。更有趣的是，该公司还把Zillow TV平台添加在它的Apple TV应用之中。用户可以观看改进家居设计方式和窍门的视频，这项功能之前只在Zillow的网站提供。

就苹果对文件大小的要求（Apple TV的所有应用都必须小于200MB）对开发有何影响这一问题，《财富》也采访了许多开发者。大多数开发者都指出，苹果向他们提供了所谓的“按需资源”（ODR）工具，可以让应用在需要时加载内容，例如游戏的新关卡。游戏开发公司Hibernum利用这一工具，重新为Apple TV制作了《李小龙：进入游戏》这款游戏。

在Hibernum副总裁兼首席品牌官路易-勒内•奥克莱尔看来，这种要求看似严格，但从长期来看其实有利于该公司的应用。奥克莱尔表示：“借助于苹果推出的ODR功能，我们能够大幅度降低应有的存储空间。一旦到位，整个过程对开发团队都是透明的。由于我们已经在Apple TV上试验了这项技术，我们未来推出的iOS移动产品上也可以利用它。”

接受《财富》采访的软件开发者都异常兴奋，也非常好奇。没有人真的知道Apple TV上的应用在未来几个月内会是什么样子。Plex的游戏和娱乐应用显然很适合Apple TV，但人们很感兴趣的另一个问题是，哪款应用未来能在Apple TV上取得突破？

无论它是什么，根据与多名开发者的交谈，我们很清楚地知道，苹果给tvOS应用开发者提供的工具绝不会成为开发的阻碍。