27-08-2020 14:04
I have to agree with Ttzzse I to have just bought a Sony Bravia TV and wrongly assumed that an App would be available in the Google app store as I have the app on my pixel phone
Surely the more platforms you are on the more likely to increase your subscriber base
27-08-2020 18:44 - edited 27-08-2020 18:45
@Anonymous User
At the moment the focus is on getting their current supported platforms up to the same standard across the board after that would likely be when they will start to look at new platforms for the future and Android TV might well be one of them.
But in fairness Android TV has a whole has never been the greatest platform.
29-08-2020 7:57 - edited 29-08-2020 8:06
@Anonymous User
Eveyone seems to assume that these issues are technical, when in fact they are commercial as well, and often more so.
It seems to be a big industry secret as to how an app gets on to a device; who asks who, does any money change hands, and if so, in which direction?
And while the devices often offer a published API, the apps may need to go beyond that, for functional or performance reasons. Hence developments are usually collaborative between device maker and app supplier.
Android, though, is a little different from other TV OSes, and more like the Android model on smartphones; you write for Android TV, put your app in the Google TV Play Store as long as Google accept it, and then it can be used on any Android TV device.
So, two snags;
Firstly, Sony likely aren’t going to help you fund the development when why should they, if Philips and everybody else with Android TV benefits?
And secondly, the bottom of the Android TV market is a snakepit of unregulated devices, any one of which could be the key to the IP (Intellectual Property) that NowTV/Sky own, or are entrusted with, leaking out of the walled garden it is currently contained within.
So why should NowTV give themselves that headache?
You want NowTV on a Sony Android TV? Buy a Stick, plug it in. Pretend your £1500 TV cost £1525, 1/60th more, and came with one less HDMI port 😛
29-08-2020 12:08
True, but then why would they miss out on 1 platform when on most others?
If it works on a stick then why not on a native app?
I won’t buy a stick as casting from my iPhone to the TV works well so far, so saves buying a stock (even if cheap) and using an HDMI, and mess in with different inputs remotes etc
29-08-2020 13:02
Because Android TV has been a complete failure. It was never properly took off as developers never truly got behind it. Even TV manufacturers realised this and Samsung and LG stayed on there own platforms.
It’s only really Sony and Phillips that have stuck with Android TV.
29-08-2020 13:11
But surely it can’t be that much of a change to make an app for Andy phones/tablets to one for TV? Not sure on the development, but iOS make it pretty easy to make an app for iOS and Apple TV (so display on a TV)