Apple TV and iPhone Displays

This piece by Jason Paul Richmond for The Tech Block, speculating on how Apple might do a bigger iPhone, is pretty good overall, but this bit stuck out to me (emphasis added):

Boosting the pixel density at a given size means boosting the resolution, which poses problems. Some believe that Apple should just adopt the industry standard 1080p. I don’t think that would be a bad idea per se, especially if the Apple TV could run apps, but it can make things even more complicated for developers — complications that have the potential of devaluing iOS’s greatest asset, the quality of third-party software.

I’ve seen similar sentiments before, that a 1920 × 1080 iPhone could be a boon to turning Apple TV into an app platform, because that’s the resolution of most modern HD TV sets. This makes no sense.

No app designed for a handheld touchscreen could work well on a non-touch TV screen. It’s absurd. I’d love to see Apple TV gain an App Store and third-party apps. I think it’s something Apple would do, and might be working on. But such apps would be their own new thing. They would not be iPad or iPhone apps. That TV displays are 1920 × 1080 has no bearing whatsoever on whether Apple would ever make a 1920 × 1080 iPhone. None.

★ Monday, 4 February 2013