The Rajam Report highlights various reviews of the YouTube and Amazon Prime Video apps built for Apple TV. At the core are the complaints that the interface does not feel like a traditional Apple TV app, that they do not feel like they were written for Apple TV.
But why?
Take a look at this chart:
Those numbers are sales estimates. Pavan Rajam asks this question:
> If you’re Amazon, Hulu, or YouTube, what incentive do you have to invest in a high quality tvOS app when it addresses a mere fraction of your overall TV user base?
Read the whole article. I do think Pavan has his finger on the pulse here.
Hmm.. Apple TV number is actually much better than I thought. Is this included ATV3 perhaps?
And I won’t call more than half “a fraction of..” either.
Amazon and Google try to deliver the same app on every device. So the Xbox App isn’t native like the ATV App and all the other. It’s bad that’s right.
You could show a much bleaker chart for sales of iOS versus Android, but iOS apps still tend to be of better quality and developed first.
In reality, sales numbers aren’t that relevant. It is who is actively using their devices and these services that matters. If you want to directly monetize it also matters which platforms have customers most willing to pay for the services.
For most people, these devices are mainly a delivery platform for Netflix, so the cheaper the better. Hence, the numbers.
If you base the quality of your product on the size of the current market, it will turn into a self fulfilling prophecy.
You fail to show how the apps are bad?
All you state is that users of other devices have lower expectations.
Well, it was stated here that the “interface does not feel like a traditional Apple TV app, that they do not feel like they were written for Apple TV.” and the linked article goes into more detail. This may seem minor but having to figure out even basic video playback controls on a per app basis is bad.
They should also add FilmStruck to this list. Its UI design makes the service unbearable and not worth paying for.
That was my first thought. I’m glad we finally have an Amazon Video app for the Apple TV but If Amazon wants to tap into the buying potential of 21mm potential customers you would think they’d spend the time and resources making an app with a native look and feel.
“21m potential customer”.. who’s clearly not shy to spend money, I might add.
I bet Netflix usage on Apple TV is equal, if not more, than all three others combined.
they both suck so bad. it’s clear these bozos are lousy at software.
smaller market share doesn’t explain that away… macOS has much smaller market share yet higher quality apps. why? because mac devs are better at building software than their windows counterpoints.
market share and talent are two different things.
read some of the deeper linked articles. the latest google youtube app abandons all the native UI conventions, including the ATV’s swipe scrubbing. the app is a PS3 port and designed for button clicking. it’s awful.
But the YouTube app isn’t bad anymore. It was updated a week ago and is now in line with the apps for other streaming devices. https://www.macstories.net/news/youtubes-apple-tv-app-scores-a-redesign/
Ah nevermind, I misread the point of the article and see where the focus is. Disregard me 🙂
I guess presenting one’s brand effectively across all platforms matters less if you have no intention of reaching as wide an audience as possible?
I dunno about the last half, but definitely the first half.
Amazon really ought to be chasing the 21M customers who’ve shown that they’re not after the bargain basement product, because money.
(Netflix? They don’t care; they sell a flat-rate subscription service. The app is their product, basically.)
The Amazon Prime Video app is not that bad, honestly. It’s a bit clunky and you can tell they’ve cheated in the development process, but they built a good app in spite of that. It’s very plain, but it’s functional. My main problem with it is too many of the entries are promises of later content rather than actual content.
Not so YouTube, which is just a steaming pile of shit. Just like the iOS YouTube. I’m convinced Google makes terrible iOS apps as part of their strategy.
Should Apple make a striped down version of Apple TV and sell it near cost?
Or put another way, how stupid can they be to think 21 million isn’t a worthwhile number of people not to offend?
21 million vs 38 million is not a significantly smaller market. Unless few of the 21 million have Amazon Prime accounts. I’m betting a not insignificant population of AppleTV owners are also Prime members.
Silly question. It’s like asking if Apple would do a stripped-down version of the iPhone to appeal to people in ghettos in Bombay.
I agree, the Prime app is bare, but works. I really like the “hold select to add/remove from watchlist” feature.
The recent change to the Netflix app is terrible. The autoplaying preview of almost every entry with music is annoying, I hate to stop and read any summary because I know the music or preview will start.
I really like the HBO app design. To me, it is the best so far.
Being Canadian I don’t get the HBO app. While the Netflix app has more features, I have to admit I like the simplicity of Prime a lot.
I find the new app to be a mixed bag. I appreciate having a bit more information about the video in front of me before I click on it, but the layout and the way they choose recommended videos or which of my subscriptions to highlight seems worse than before.
I guess we get one or the other but can’t have both. 🙂
I guess the implication of the article was that the AppleTV versions of these apps were bad in comparison to these apps on other platforms and the reason was because apple’s platform was too small to garner the work.
I totally agree that it is bad for companies to not match a platform’s UI, but in this case I think it is worse to not support key features. Thus I prefer Hulu and Prime to Netflix because they both support the TV app to unify my viewing experience.
Sure, UI is not great, but at least Amazon and Hulu support the TV app. I’m more annoyed with Netflix refusal to support TV app.
Excellent point on the lack of platform support for Netflix and the TV app.
And now they make a sucky app and even less people will use it and here we go with their self-fulfilling prophecy.
On that line of argument, I just wonder what sense it makes to invest time and money to develop a sub par app that will only have the effect to piss off their user base in the first place…
I bought the good-ole Apple TV when it was still around 50 bucks. No way I’ll ever buy the one with the godawful touch remote that never works.
There are cheap small devices for around 30 bucks that support AirPlay and Chromecast, that’s enough for me. I usually always cast video from Plex, Netflix or Hulu mobile apps anyway.
Also they think all the user segments are mutually exclusive. Idiots.
I’m using a Chromecast in the living room and have an old Apple TV connected to my old Monitor upstairs that has no speakers, because the Apple TV can play the audio in synch to the speakers connected to the Airport Express upstairs. If YouTube’s app sucks balls on one device, I simply end up using it less and watch other stuff instead. Like Netflix or Hulu. Their loss not mine.
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God I have used all these devices and man do I feel sorry for people who have to use anything other than an AppleTV, especially Google Chromecast. They are all so half assed and incoherent. BTW the new YouTube app for AppleTV is a disgrace. It’s almost like they want people to stop using YouTube on AppleTV.
Yep exactly. I’m so sick of Google thinking they know better than Apple and are always trying to ‘hack the system’ on iOS. The new YouTube AppleTV is a complete joke. I actually just using my ipad to airplay YouTube now.
Yeah it’s now much much worse. If this is the app that other devices have then I feel bad for those poor saps. The new YouTube app is complete trash. Reminds me of when Hulu changed their UI to a Microsoft Zune style and made it unusable.
That is called the iPhone SE and yes they make it for the budget minded (maybe not the ghettos of India)