Recently, Apple has relaxed the developer's capacity limit for submitting IOS applications, from 2G to 4G. IOS 2G's capacity limitation has existed for a long time. The number of applications in the App Store has grown from small to large, and the application capacity has been small. The past hundreds of megabytes of capacity can be called the era of great works. Such works as Nova3 can really be called The masterpiece of the United States, which was comparable to the quality of the host computer, was really amazing when it was introduced two years ago. With the development of technology, the number of works on the G-capacity is increasing. At this time, the limitations of the 2G capacity are becoming increasingly prominent. Therefore, Apple suddenly declared that the expansion was both unexpected and reasonable.
The impact of expansion on the game
Applying capacity expansion has a significant impact on Apple's ecosystem. First, iPhone devices that mark the capacity of 16G and below will disappear from Apple's hardware ecosystem. 32G devices will become Apple's lowest standard. The 16G capacity of the Apple device has only about 12G of system space left after the system is installed. In addition to other applications and games, the available space is often limited. Especially when the IOS8 system is upgraded last year, the space required is large. Had to spend time to delete photos, videos and applications in order to complete the 8.0 system upgrade, and finally even happened to the user for the reason that Apple reported the incident.
The second is the impact on App applications, especially game applications. Game applications require a large amount of art materials to be stored locally, which takes up a lot of space after installation. With the increasing number of 3D games, materials such as textures and normal maps that are required for 3D game development are eating a lot of storage space. If the capacity of the game pack is still 2G, developers must reduce these materials, the result is that the picture level is limited to a certain range can not be a qualitative evolution again. The best example is the "final game factory" SE in the final fantasy 7 transplant in 2013, because more than 4G was rejected by the App Store, and due to the 2G capacity limit, I do not know how many other platforms of the game works and thus missed Players to meet, even if the successful transplantation of the work, but also forced to shrink a certain number of times before they were able to show up on the IOS, and then attracted the player's taunts and Tucao, developers have a hard word.
However, all sorts of signs from Apple show that Apple's expansion of the App should not be so simple on the surface, just as the iPhone 6 retains the 16G version in order to obtain higher profits, the merchants are always astute, Cook's sense of smell in the business and the absolute It is better than Joe. In addition to Apple's expansion of the App, in addition to the game that can bring a higher level of screen, but also what are the benefits? On the day that Apple announced the expansion of its application, Gene Munster, a well-known analyst at American investment bank Piper Jaffray, said that Apple is likely to release a new Apple TV set-top box this fall.
The meaning of a drunkard
Apple TV is the reason! Because Apple TV comes with HDMI2 interface and remote control, it does not rule out Apple intends to build Apple TV to be comparable to Sony and Microsoft game console devices, HDMI2 can transmit high-definition ultra-high-definition video and audio signals, also supports The manipulation of peripherals on set-top box equipment, coupled with the complete App Store ecosystem, can quickly become a killer for Apple TV. As a result, Apple began to enter the host industry on the premise of maintaining the overall ecosystem.
As we all know, whether it is Sony and the PS system host, or Microsoft's Xbox host, take a closed operating system, its own PS Store and Xbox Live store is equivalent to Apple's App Store. Why can't IOS with closed systems enter the host area? The reason is that there is a lack of matching host devices, and the iPhone and iPad alone cannot provide a comparable host experience. Only Apple TVs that support TV can meet this demand.
With more and more intelligent devices in life, the areas touched by Apple relying on IOS systems are also increasing. From mobile phones to wristbands, from TV set-top boxes to cars, in theory, all intelligent devices are likely to be touched by Apple. field. When Apple has accumulated enough strength, it will certainly not miss the business opportunities in these potential areas.
This time Apple's relaxation of the application's capacity limit does not rule out preparations for higher-quality game works. Apple TV needs support for higher-quality game works. The current 2G capacity has severely restricted the quality of the game. In addition, when Apple released the IOS8 system in fall 2014, it also launched the Metal graphics library, claiming to be 10 times better than the traditional Open GL. At the same time, Apple showed a demo video titled “Zenlandâ€. The rendering effect of the screen is indeed bright, but despite the support of the Metal API, this screen also needs more art material.
It seems that Apple has done a lot of preparation for Apple TV. TV hardware, application expansion, and the new Metal API can further squeezing hardware performance downwards. They are dominating the major game engine providers. After all, this is all for Apple TV. The strategic reserve of the living room. Saying not too much, if Apple can provide a unified development engine, Unreal and the Unity engine will not have any chance to appear in the App Store game.
The 2015 Apple conference is approaching. Set-top boxes and cars are what Apple's next goal is. Wait and see.
