I assumed the first apps (a.k.a. Applications, that is, programs) were on the Apple iPhone but search service Duckduckgo let me know that the beginning of "smartphones" starts earlier and elsewhere than Apple.
I was surprised after years of broadcast television when we got cable tv and found more selection and a better signal. I can't remember whether an ad in the mail or maybe an email told me about Roku streamers. I do remember that I had heard of Netflix and Amazon Prime tv and that ad said that a Roku streamer could use the wi-fi signal in our house to show Netflix and Amazon. Soon after that ad, we went to our local Wal-mart and bought a Vizio tv, with the largest screen we had ever had. It was 35 inches on the diagonal. I don't think there were "smart" tv's for sale among those on display but there may have been. My good friends have snickered at our little teeny tv but they are used to a set the size of their whole wall.
I was surprised when I visited the Spectrum store recently to get some question answered and during that trip, I was told that I might like to add the Spectrum app to the services already listed on our display when using the Roku. Until installing that app, I had been changing the Input to our tv to get off of the broadcast possibilities and onto the Roku. I was surprised that what I knew as a cable company, offering a wi-fi signal, a telephone signal and a tv broadcast signal would go to the trouble of building and offering an app for my Roku to get back to everyday broadcast content. I had gone to the store to learn more about how I might see my Great Courses on our tv.
In looking up information related to this post, I found information about other apps I didn't know about. Of course, some programs, organizations, magazines, channels and "services" require payments, usually as subscriptions, which means they would usually like my permission and one of my credit card numbers. Equipped with that information, they can quietly charge my account annually and the charge will be buried among many others. I am learning to pay attention to the Apple app store, the Android app store and apps that turn up wherever.
