App Stores are mainly associated with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. But the store concept is picking up steam with televisions too, mainly due to the fact of the new Smart TVs.
Although TV companies have dedicated App Stores for their Smart TVs, Norway-based Opera Inc. have also announced their version of App Store for televisions.
Dubbed as the Opera TV Store, the store is actually based off a browser with all apps using HTML5 web standard. Theoretically, all TVs supporting the latest web standard will be able to use the store but that will not be the case as Opera plans to lock out on unauthorized devices.
The apps on the Opera TV Store will be installed on the cloud but Opera has tried to emulate the experience similar to installing on a TV, which in my opinion is quite nice. And for those who’re wondering what will happen to the apps if a user turns off or logs out from the service – the apps will stay since the store and apps are tied to TV’s unique ID.
As of now, all I could find was free apps on the store but Opera plans to add paid apps in the near future.
The Opera TV Store will be released this year with a “global TV maker.”
Check out a brief rundown of the TV Store below.
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