Apple Adds iTunes Radio to Apple TV, but Not Much Else

New video for Apple hobbyists, obsessives and completists out today: Poorly lit footage of new Apple TV operating software, which will incorporate Apple’s iTunes Radio when that service shows up this fall.

Note that this doesn’t count as news, as Apple has already said iTunes Radio would show up on Apple TV.

But now there is proof!

Here’s a short version:

And here’s one that goes 9 minutes. It’s narrated, presumably, by Isaac.

Back? Okay. What would be truly interesting, of course, would be if Apple opened up Apple TV to the rest of the world, so that screen full of apps was replicated many, many times over. Just like Roku does with its Web TV platform.

But note that, contrary to a last-minute flurry of hopeful rumors, Apple did not open up Apple TV at its WWDC conference this month. Just like it has not done for several years now. Instead, there are just a handful of apps from outsiders, like Hulu, Netflix and the Wall Street Journal (which, like this site, is owned by News Corp.).

We still don’t know why Apple hasn’t opened up Apple TV, and it’s a little bit vexing. After all, opening up the iOS platform to outsiders was a crucial step in the iPhone’s evolution.

On the other hand, note that HBO Go did finally come to Apple TV this year, but there’s no HBO app on Apple TV; instead HBO subscribers can beam their shows from their phones and tablets to their TVs using Airplay. [UPDATE: That was fast: Now many (but not all) HBO subscribers can access an HBO Go app on Apple TV, along with new apps from ESPN and others.]

That’s not quite as easy as clicking on an app on the box (for starters, it means you can’t do anything else with your phone while you’re streaming “Game of Thrones” to your TV) but it does point out a way that Apple can flesh out its experiment while it waits to get really serious about this TV thing. One day.