Is Apple Making Some Big Changes with the Apple TV?

Is Apple finally willing to let go of some of the control it has on the Apple TV to allow third-party software developers to make apps for it? This finally might be the case with the introduction of Metal at the WWDC last month. Metal promises to be ten times more powerful than its current gaming engine, which means that Apple might be gearing it towards the Apple TV rather than the iPad or iPhone.  Could we be seeing a software development kit soon?

There's no question that Apple TV has been more of a hobby for Apple – Tim Cook actually said that himself in his COO days. This has been frustrating for the millions of people who own an Apple TV because they know that if Apple put the full iOS muscle behind it, it would have a greater impact in the smart TV market. 

As of right now, the Apple TV is well behind the Roku in sales this year, and it is currently behind the Chromecast as well. Customers have gone with the Roku because it has far more channels. With Amazon looking to have a bigger presence in the market as well with more content and channels, it's certainly possible that Apple could be left in the dust in a market that is expected to grow by 25 percent in the next three years. 

Micah Singleton raised the question in Gizmodo of whether or not Metal means that Apple is thinking about turning Apple TV into a proper gaming device. If it does allow for a SDK to be developed for Apple TV, which could potentially allow it to add a ton of channels and port games from Xbox and Playstation, the Apple TV could regain control of a lion's share of the market.  

With the announcement of continuity apps that sync Mac with iOS coming to Apple TV, it seems like Apple is making more of an effort to integrate its technology to its smart television device. It should be interesting to see if Apple opens up the gates a little bit to app development companies, so they can help create a superior experience for Apple TV users.

Is the Amazon Fire Revolutionary or Just Another Smartphone?

Given its status in e-commerce, when Amazon makes an announcement, it's met by excitement. So when Amazon had a press conference a few weeks ago in Seattle to announce the fact that it was getting into the smartphone market, everyone got really excited. That excitement waned, though, when people started looking at what the Amazon Fire Phone really was – just another smart phone. In a few weeks, the Fire Phone has fallen from number one all of the way down to number 77 on Amazon's Best Seller List.  Here are some reasons why this might be the case: 

Hardware: One of the biggest points Jeff Bezos made about the phone was that it had a longer battery life than other competitive smart phones. This might be true, but battery life isn't as big of a concern for users who have chargers, car chargers, and charging stations to keep their phone alive. Specs and app availability matter so much more, and the display, for example, is lower than iOS's retina display levels. Its 5.5 inch screen is about the same size as some Samsung and Nokia models.

Built-In Mayday Support: 24/7 customer support is certainly a perk, but how many Amazon customers actually use this feature to make it a sellable feature?

3D Effect: This is a gimmick for your home screen and little more. It will be incredibly difficult for mobile app development companies to make apps that are useful and take advantage of this effect. 

It's Not an Android: It will use Base Android, and Google will not port its suite of apps to the Amazon Marketplace. Therefore, Amazon will have to start from scratch on popular apps that use Google Services API. As of this this moment there are over 200,000 apps in the Amazon 

Marketplace, which is nowhere near the number of apps available to Android and iPhone users. 

Price: Everyone thought that Amazon would launch the Fire Phone at a lower price to become an immediate player (think Kindle Fire), but this is not the case. In fact, the Amazon Fire Phone's contract and non-contract prices rival the iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5. 

ATT Exclusivity:  There are far more options out there than when the iPhone debuted on ATT a few years ago. ATT exclusivity of the Fire Phone marginalizes the market and lowers the momentum of a possible greater market share. 

Firefly: Firefly is by the far the most interesting feature of the Fire Phone, but is it really that big of a sell? With it, users can connect directly to a product on Amazon by scanning a barcode or capturing a piece of audio or video. But Amazon already has an app for its marketplace, and it isn't that hard to reach a product page on its mobile browser, so Firefly might just be a luxury that's not necessarily a game-changer. 

While the Fire Phone is a decent phone, there doesn't really seem to be much here to say that Amazon will have Apple, Samsung, and Nexus quaking in their boots with its arrival. Only time will tell how the public will see Amazon's foray into the smart phone market.