Apple's plan to dominate all the screens in your home

Apple wants to own every screen in your home, including the TV. If it succeeds, you may never buy a non-Apple device again.

Apple wants every screen in your home to be an Apple screen. The company will be taking a giant leap toward accomplishing its goal at this year's WWDC.

In just a decade, Apple has become a dominant force in computers, tablets, and mobile. It has yet to make major inroads into the biggest screen of them all: the television.

Sure, there's Apple TV, but it has been a "hobby" for the company. Last year, 2.8 million units of the device were sold, and 2.7 million units have been sold so far this year. Though that's impressive, it's a far cry from the company's iPhone, iPad, Mac, and iPod sales.

"It's not a fifth leg of the stool," CEO Tim Cook said recently at the D Conference. "It's not the same size as the phone or Mac or tablet business."

That's all about to change, though. The Apple TV App Store is on its way, opening up the floodgates for developers to create killer apps for people's living rooms. The new TV app store will be part of iOS 6, I'm told, which already powers the operating systems of the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod Touch.

With a TV app store, the technology titan is laying the groundwork for the fabled Apple television set (the iTV, iPanel, or whatever it will be called). Though I'm skeptical an Apple TV set will make its debut at this year's WWDC (I suspect the iTV will get its own event), a TV app store won't be very interesting without an actual TV to support it.

Releasing the Apple TV SDK is just the first step in Apple's long-term plan to control every screen in your home. The big vision is to make all of the screens in your home interoperable via AirPlay and iOS.

Once that happens, it'll be impossible to buy anything but Apple devices, because they will be the only products that work with the rest of screens in your home. Why buy a TV that can't pull up your favorite apps, shows, and games instantly?