Apple revealed a new and improved Apple TV yesterday, its highly anticipated update to the world of television, touting a remote you can use for gaming and the fact Siri can help find stuff you want to watch. But the company's announcement lacked a certain excitement when it came to a key feature of TV: the content.

OK, yes, you will be able to stream shows and movies from big-name partners like Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and Showtime. You'll still see all of Apple TV's previous app offerings, like YouTube, the Disney Channel, and ESPN. Apple TVs also will come with their own App Store—for which developers can build all kinds of gaming apps, streaming apps, and other apps.

But instead of telling us about how we'll all soon be cord-cutters freed from the tyranny of cable, Apple kept telling us to look ahead. And then it started talking about shopping. Michelle Peluso, the CEO of Gilt Groupe, took to the stage at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to say we'll soon be able to buy shoes from the comfort of our couch. And Apple told us we'll soon be able to check Zillow real estate listings on the big screen in the living room.

The Groundwork

To a cynic, bringing Gilt onto its stage shows Apple doesn’t yet have the content deals it needs and (reportedly) wants. It doesn’t seem like you'll be able to buy a single subscription from Apple to get all kinds of live TV offerings—yet. But Apple is setting the stage for new kinds of experiences with the help of its new App Store. Shows, movies, or games on your TV may soon be immersive, interactive, and, well, offer you the chance to shop. “The open App Store and the ability for any content creator to have their own immersive video experience brought directly to the television in native form is big,” says BTIG analyst Brandon Ross. “For the traditional cable networks that have been beholden to antiquated TV boxes, this should give them an opportunity for a much more immersive experience and opens up other avenues like e-commerce." Ross thinks Apple’s introduction of the Gilt app may be more about showing the possibilities of e-commerce, just as the demonstration of its MLB app highlighted Apple’s capabilities for a more immersive experience. “Imagine you have, say, the Disney channel app and around it you put a store and people could browse the store that’s related to the content that they’re seeing,” Ross says.

We don’t know yet what immersive app-ified television content would look like. But the possibilities, for both consumers and the content industry, are potentially endless. Imagine watching Game of Thrones with the ability to follow along on a map. Or watching Netflix's new series Narcos with the option to peer at a timeline of Pablo Escobar's life. Or shopping Gilt with the option of seeing a clip of what it looks like to wear those jeans.

“They’re trying to show that it’s a platform and a lot of the mobile experiences will be ported over, but those are all incremental,” says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster of Apple’s demonstration of Gilt and Zillow. “This lays the groundwork. It really becomes something that becomes mainstream once they get the OTT content nailed down.”

Without the on-demand shows and live sports that we all want to watch, the question remains if people will flock to Apple TV. No matter how new and improved the product may be, it's a part of a crowded field. For Apple, apps may be the future. But for the rest of us, we already have TV.