【1983 Archives】

Redbooth983 Archives the business productivity software, will be the first enterprise app available on Apple TV.

The company announced that it would be available on Apple TV on Thursday, but it began working on the app when Apple released its fourth-generation Apple TV in late 2015. That update allowed outside developers to create apps for the Apple TV app store, beyond HBO and Netflix.

"That got us thinking about what cool way we could leverage the platform in a non-media-related way toward our guiding principle of making people more productive," said Ben Falk, Redbooth's director of product management for mobile, who led the project.

Redbooth envisions its app being used in offices that rely on Redbooth on their laptops and also spend much of their days sitting around conference rooms with big TVs on the wall.

Instead of screensharing to show updates on company projects, employees could instead use the Apple TV version of Redbooth created specifically for a group setting.

The Apple TV app is simplified, focusing on group tasks like reviewing lists of assignments, marking tasks as urgent and assigning tasks. It leaves out tasks an individual is more likely to do, like write a big block of text.

Redbooth hopes that the Apple TV app streamlines meetings and makes it easier for companies to accomplish things in group settings. Even though an Apple TV app has the potential to bring work home, the company hopes that won't be the case.

"I don't see this as a way of making you go home and work. When you're on the go and working remotely this is a way to make you more productive," Redbooth CEO Dan Schoenbaum said.

For Apple, the Redbooth app marks the beginning of more workplace-focused options for a device that has so far been thought of as meant for consumers at home.

Redbooth is categorized in a Business section in the Apple TV app store, Schoenbaum said, hinting that more workplace-oriented apps are to come.

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