Consumers were probably excited to hear about the idea of an app-driven Apple TV, but based on developers on social media it's the platform behind it, tvOS, which deserves most of the interest.
Apple provided early access to tvOS immediately following the Sept. 9 launch of Apple TV, the iPhone 6S and iPad Pro, among other products. Company executives said tvOS would allow developers to create apps that can be accessed directly within the television viewing experience, as opposed to something they do only on their iPhone while watching TV.
Early Twitter comments from iOS devs suggest they like what they see so far, with the term "ridiculously easy" coming up more than once.
The tvOS SDK really is just iOS. Not even a TVUI framework on top - just UIKit. Ridiculously easy bringup of existing apps
— Steve T-S (@stroughtonsmith) September 9, 2015
@stroughtonsmith It's really great, I soooo wish they had done this for Apple Watch.
— Ari Weinstein (@AriX) September 9, 2015
If you were working on a SpriteKit or SceneKit game with GameController support, porting that to tvOS is ridiculously easy…
— Filip Radelic (@fichek) September 10, 2015
Of course, even tvOS will have its flaws.
Found a bug with tvOS ALREADY. pic.twitter.com/bmmsiHQsKM
— Philly C (@phillipcaudell) September 10, 2015
Among other things, developers sounded like they were eager to get their feet wet with the platform, and that some of the aesthetic choices were the right ones.
just loaded up a flappy bird clones sourcecode downloaded form the internets and it loads right up in tvOS. get ready for the clones!
— atomriot (@Atomriot) September 10, 2015
tvOS looks nicer than iOS because it has more drop shadows. It's pretty much as simple as that.
— Nick Lockwood (@nicklockwood) September 10, 2015
For a surprising number of iOS app makers, though, tvOS was an occasion for that unique brand of developer humor more than anything else.
What do you call an iOS developer who now also does watchOS and tvOS?
— Ivo Jansch (@ijansch) September 10, 2015
iOS, watchOS, now tvOS. How long until macOS?
— Antti Mattila (@anttti) September 10, 2015
Seeking senior developer, minimum 5+ years experience with tvOS.
— Tyler Fox (@smileyborg) September 10, 2015