Tivo has just announced their iPad app, and it looks great. When you first hear about it, you might think that this is yet another remote app for iPad (think Google TV remote). It’s not. Tivo Companion App for iPad is a complete (or so) Tivo experience on your iPad. If you want, it’s like having access to the Tivo TV interface, without disturbing what’s currently playing. That’s very handy if you want to browse while someone else is watching. You can also program recordings while on the go. But before you get too excited: this will work only with Tivo Premiere hardware.
Going away from the “remote app” approach is a great idea. Not that there’s anything wrong to build a remote apps, but frankly, they are pretty limited and mostly not very well designed. Tivo has created a two-screen experience that should be very effective and yet, not intrusive. Oh, and it will be free. More details in the full post.
From Tivo’s press release:
- Gesture based control – Take complete control of all recordings, even dragging forward and back through a show with a simple tap or swipe
- Start watching what you want – Launch a recorded show, live TV or streaming video with the swipe of a finger
- Program guide – Browse your full-screen TV program guide without interrupting TV viewing
- Schedule – Schedule one-time recordings and Season Pass recordings from the device at home or on-the-go
- Get more from your shows and movies – Explore cast and crew and other recommendations of your favorite shows without interrupting the big screen
- Search – Search for all of your favorite TV shows, movies, actors or directors across both broadcast and broadband from Netflix, Amazon Video On Demand, and more
- Share comments with your friends – From within the TiVo Premiere App, comment and share your thoughts to Facebook or Twitter about the show you are currently watching