14 DAY TRIAL // A small team of developers going by the name of Nitosoft have come up with the first third-party application for jailbroken Apple TVs. While this is a toddler step in regards to what iOS jailbreaking opens the door to, it stands as clear evidence that the Apple TV can be used for other purposes, besides those “imposed” by its makers.
Basically, the people at Nitosoft have created a nice little weather widget which aims to demonstrate that Apple TV is good to go in the jailbreak environment. The app is called NitoTV.
The announcement was apparently made via Twitter, where the company’s staff posted a link to screenshot of the app in action.
Several tech-sites followed with their own reports documenting the feat, touting it as a historical one for the Apple fanbase.
Those who are familiar with such matters will obviously start thinking of the next logical step - Cydia for Apple TV.
It is reasonable to assume that, since Apple TV runs iOS, is jailbreakable, and now we have evidence that apps can easily be coded to run on it, repositories hosting Apple TV software will emerge quite soon.
Depending on how popular the device becomes, based on how much functionality such apps can add to the box, we we see more or less such download sources emerge.
Talk of jailbreaking Apple’s second-generation “hobby” first emerged when rumors broke out that the device was running a variant of iOS.
Once confirmed, the set-top box revealed its secrets in that it was actually running a full-fledged iOS.
Limited by Apple so that it displays only what matters for the Apple TV user, the iOS powering Apple TVs is virtually the same one found on iPhones, iPod touches, and iPads.
The only big problem faced by developers coding apps for the jailbroken box is user input.
Natively, the device is controlled via its Apple (physical) Remote, but it can also be controlled via the Apple-developed iOS Remote application, available as a free download from the iTunes App Store.
The Remote app, which connects to the Apple TV via the user’s local WiFi network, allows for more complex commands.
As such, if there’s one thing that may give relevance to third-party Apple TV apps, it’s an iOS application that resembles Remote, which these developers will also have to code themselves.