Like any dutiful Apple fanboy, I grabbed today’s iPhone and Apple TV software updates. One of the top selling points is AirPlay — new functionality designed to facilitate shipping a variety of multimedia around the home. And my initial reaction isn’t entirely positive.
The concept is awesome, but the current execution, at least in relation to Apple TV, leaves a lot to be desired. While Apple describes AirPlay as a feature that lets you “stream whatever you’re watching — or listening to” from your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to an Apple TV, in practice it’s a bit more hit or miss.
After a short amount of time attempting to beam content from iPhone to HDTV via AppleTV, I can tell you the “whatever” is a gross exaggeration. I’ve yet to successfully relay video from any third party apps (like Hulu), although the occasional app can pass along the audio half of the feed – which is of pretty limited value. It’s unclear if I have all the wrong apps or if this functionality needs to be enabled by developers. Perhaps it’s just not ready for primetime. Regardless, the simplest and most effective solution is for Apple to launch a full-on Apple TV app store.