I was pleasantly surprised to see at the Web 2.0 Expo that Roku is opening up its platform to third-party developers later this year. This is from the flyer.
Roku’s award-winning digital video player – open to outside development later this year.
- Roku is opening its platform to third-party developers later this year
- Netflix and Amazon have already launched, but they’re just the beginning
- The Roku Development Kit will enable you to build your own channels and applications to run directly on the Roku video player
- Build Web 2.0 Apps for the TV
- Roku’s digital video player is the best-selling way to connect Internet content directly to the TV
I spoke with David Westerhoff, Director of Software Engineering, briefly about the app platform and real time story. Encouraged to see what developers come up with once the platform is released I of course mentioned real time story, liking it to Choose Your Own Adventure books. I assured him that the standard Roku remote offered more than enough interactivity and that it was more an issue of getting the content to the box. Currently Roku only streams content from Netflix or Amazon but to do real time story you’ll need a way to access artist generated content. Possibly pulled from various YouTube videos or blogs. A lot still needs to be figured out, but it offers a promising platform for real time story. It catches people while they’re relaxed on the couch, ready to be entertained.
Seems like boxee beat the Roku in the API department. All I want to know is will either support real time story? I’ve come to the conclusion that the Web is positioned mostly as a tool in people’s minds. That is changing but not that quickly. That’s why the Roku and boxee present such great opportunities for real time story and now that their opening up their platforms we might get to test Steve Jobs famous quote.