Joshua covers a lot of interesting territory, with the primary focus being on TiVo’s app support. TiVo is focused on providing a consistent app environment across their platforms, be it retail or provider units. Today the focus on on the Adobe Air/Flash environment which is used on the retail and MSO Premiere units in the US, and the Virgin Media and ONO boxes in Europe. There is still support for the Java environment used on earlier platforms, as in HME, and TiVo is looking at other environments.

For developers seeking to get their app onto TiVo they work directly with TiVo for the retail market, but need to work with the providers for their TiVo units. TiVo can help facilitate those conversations for developers seeking to get their apps on multiple platforms, but it is up to the individual operators to approve an app for their customers.

He also talked a bit about working with different size operators, from giants like Comcast and Charter with millions of users, down to small MSOs with 150,000 subscribers. Definitely worth watching, IMHO. Now if we could just have the SDK released and actually start seeing more apps!

Via Broadband TV News

There is now a TiVo Platform SDK page up on TiVo’s site where prospective developers can sign up to receive more information. As the page states:“The TiVo Platform SDK enables third-party developers to build applications for TiVo devices, and for websites, mobile and tablet applications that need to interact with TiVo devices and services.”

I’ve signed up for more information. We’ll have to see if they give me a peek since I’m a blogger and not really a developer (I’ve done software development professionally, but not for several years). But I presume that at some point they’ll want to get the word out if they’re serious about attracting 3rd party developers to the TiVo platform. I’ve been saying for years now that TiVo really needs to create an ecosystem around TiVo to make it ‘stickier’ for existing users and to give prospective customers more reasons to make the jump. I had high hopes for HME (Home Media Engine) back in the day, and it got off to a good start. But then TiVo pulled back from supporting the public API for HME and the updates stopped. HME became an internal-only development tool for TiVo and their partners. A lot has changed in the intervening years, within and without TiVo, so I’m hopeful this time things will be different.