Apple did not make any announcements about its mega-secret TV project during the opening discussion at WWDC 2012, inspiring even more speculation on how Apple TV could change the way we distribute and view content.
Here’s some of the speculation we’ve picked up from Forbes and others.
Leading the latest list of predictions is that a new Apple TV operating system is coming.
Apple will release a Software Development Kit to allow developers to create apps for a new Apple TV App Store which will be part of iOS 6.
The existing Apple TV device and an improved version of AirPlay will enable iOS devices to control the TV screen through mirroring and dual screen apps.
A user would be able to easily beam any audio, video or application directly to the TV.
iOS 6 will be deeply integrated with iCloud.
That integration will bring documents, music, movies and photos and other digital content to the TV screen in a way that is fluid and synchronized with all of your other screens. As Ben Parr writes in CNet, “The big vision is to make all of the screens in your home interoperable via AirPlay and iOS.”
Apple content only one of many streams accessible to users
This is where Christian TV and content comes into the picture.
Christian entrepreneurs, churches, and broadcasters will be able to leverage Apple’s AirPlay to help users discover any content or application on their Apple iOS devices.
This would include any video outreach ministry, video network or video content on the web (assuming they properly support HTML5, HLS streaming and the players detect and surface AirPlay UI).
Once located, AirPlay will make it easy for a user to beam a sermon, interactive discipleship curriculum, or spiritual coaching network directly to the TV.
How might a more fully featured iOS on your TV change viewing habits when it comes to Christian content?
Finding high-quality and trusted Christian content on TV today is mostly a hit or miss proposition. People often talk of “stumbling” into a quality teaching voice. There are only a few Christian networks devoted to the gospel.
The process of looking for anything on traditional TV is a hassle. But once all our devices are integrated on the new “Home Screen,” predictions are that we will enjoy using our established online searching habits and routines for checking favorite content sources.
The opportunity is for Christian video content providers, and there could be hundreds or thousands globally, to position themselves in the handful of live video communications platforms that seekers and believers trust enough to check in with regularly.
The next generation Christian TV
It appears from the speculation that iPhone and iPad may become the next-generation TV set-top box. Soon, potentially tens of millions of HD capable monitors could become a screen for the hundreds of thousands of apps running on devices that are already in your hands.
Given this, it’s conceivable that one day Christian TV will be an app among thousands of apps on your Apple TV. Creators and SaaS distribution networks could be working together to bring Christ centered, personal, and interactive applications and experiences onto your TV set.
The most worthy content in the world
We are always talking about the need to create and spread worthy content online.
Right now, inside churches all across the country sits a deep reservoir of high-quality, worthy video content, the Good News that people will watch like their lives depended on it.
Web-integrated TV is the optimal platform for presenting video-based gospel content.
This reconceptualizing of Christian TV and content may not be what Steve Jobs had in mind when he told Walter Isaacson that he had “cracked” the interface for an Apple TV set. But one thing is certain, the transformation for how we all use TV is underway, and the world of Christian TV is going to be changed forever.