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The most exciting part of the new Apple TV will have nothing to do with watching video

2015 looks to finally be the year of the Apple TV.

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The iPhone maker's little set-top box, which connects to a TV and streams video over the internet from the likes of Netflix and Hulu, has been in desperate need of an update for a long time. 

And it looks like it will finally get one: Apple will reportedly unveil a refreshed version of the Apple TV next week, and among the new features it will get will be a will be a fancy new remote, voice controls with Siri, and a much needed interface overhaul.

Apple TV Tim Cook
Apple CEO Tim Cook talking about the Apple TV, which was sold over 25 million units to date. Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images

But the most exciting aspect of the new streaming box may not be the hardware upgrades or even Siri — it will be the flood of third-party apps that developers are ready to start making once the Apple TV gets its own version of the App Store.

"It’s definitely exciting," app developer Matt Hall said of the possibility of making apps for the set-top box. Hall is best known for working on the hit iPhone game "Crossy Road," a charming take on the classic arcade game "Frogger."

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"I’ve been waiting for this for a couple years now, ever since I first mirrored a game and played it on the big screen using Apple TV," Hall said, referring to Apple's AirPlay Mirroring feature that allows you stream what's on your iPhone or iPad to the Apple TV.

"It feels like a logical step for Apple, especially with the performance capabilities of their latest and upcoming iOS devices. I imagine Apple will be a pretty big player in living room gaming eventually."

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It's easy to imagine a game like Crossy Road on the big screen, especially with access to a motion-sensitive remote. Hipster Whale

According to TechCrunch, the new Apple TV remote will have Wii-like motion sensors, which would pick up arm movements and create all sorts of possibilities for app developers.

And if Apple encourages developers to get behind the games that dominate the App Store already to bring their titles to the Apple TV, they will likely jump at the opportunity. The Apple Watch had 1,500 apps ready to go the day it launched.

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9to5Mac has reported that the Apple TV won't ship until October, which would give developers time to make their apps work with the device.

Ryan Cash, the founder of the Toronto-based app company Snowman, has been thinking about Snowman's game "Alto's Adventure" in the living room for a long time — even before the iPhone version was released. In "Alto's Adventure," you play a snowboarder trying to make it down a mountain while dodging obstacles and performing tricks. 

"We spent a lot of our time beta testing the game while connected to a big TV with AirPlay Mirroring," said Cash. "It made it fun for a few of us to watch while the other person played, passing around the device to see who could get the highest score."

Alto's Adventure
"Alto's Adventure" is the perfect example of a hit iPhone game that could easily work on the Apple TV. Snowman

While you probably won't be able to play flagship console games like "Halo" on the Apple TV (the device is rumored to max out at only 16GB of internal storage — base models of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles come with 500GB) titles like "Crossy Road" and "Alto's Adventure" are some examples of successful iOS games people love that could easily come to the big screen.

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Outside of gaming, entertainment and media apps make obvious sense on the Apple TV, too. Dozens of partners, like HBO, Showtime, and CNN, already have channels on the Apple TV that allow you to watch their content. But all of their channel designs are based on the same Apple-approved template.

Respected Apple analyst Horace Dediu sees apps on the Apple TV as enabling a new kind of platform, like when Apple let third-party developers make apps for the iPhone in 2008.

"The biggest opportunity for app developers on the Apple TV is to take time away from TV programming or to cause TV programming to evolve into a software product," he told Tech Insider.

Scott Olechowski, a co-founder of Plex TV, told Tech Insider that he's "been looking forward to the opportunity to bring some special Plex sauce to the Apple TV for a long, long time." Plex is media library service that stores and syncs content across just about every device imaginable, including all of Apple's.

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"My guess is that the device will need to continue to be a killer media delivery platform," said Olechowski. "Opening the platform to developers will only enable the device to continue to build on this strength."

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