Sky Q apps for phones coming ‘later this year’

“What we’ve found is that phones tend to be a more out of home planning type experience,” Olson said. “On the phone, it’s more of a typing device, like ‘I want to watch this and this tonight’ but there’s still people like my kids who would happily watch TV on a phone screen.”

As to when Sky Q for phones will be arriving, Olson said that the apps wouldn’t be released until they’re ready, but when they are launched, there will be parity with the tablet apps in terms of updates and features. Frustratingly, Olson would only say that there will be some ‘cool stuff’ when quizzed on the updates:

“I can’t get into specific dates but it’s something that we’re definitely right in the throes of [developing] and we’re working hard to get out as quickly as we can. You’ll be seeing some great improvements on those apps and some exciting new stuff throughout the year.”

Olson added that over time Sky is exploring how the recommendations engine of Sky Q can be fine tuned to make the mobile experience better tailored to the viewer.

“We want the [Sky Q user interface] to work harder for our customers. The overall UI framework will probably stay consistent for people, especially because [the TV] is such a shared device. You might have someone who’s a sports fan and someone else who’s not, are you going to take away the sports section? No, of course not.

“I think we have to respect the family and households shared devices and make that work well for everyone, but it is this question of how do we bring those more personal elements through it? How can we start to make the personal device experience more personal as well.”

We also had the opportunity to talk to Olson about future updates for Sky Q, including 4K HDR, 5.1.4 sound and the potential for VR – stay tuned for a full interview.

In the meantime, you can download Sky Q apps for iOS and Android tablets from iTunes and Google Play now – just don’t confuse them with these apps.