Chromecast has always had the issue that it's main users are the tech savvy who are comfortable controlling everything via smartphone. That's not a huge percent of the population.

By adding the remote and going for the play of helping you navigate cross app, they seem to be trying to extend out to less savvy users who need a more guided product.

Overall it seems like the longterm plan is to push their subscription services, since I can't imagine they make great money from the devices themselves. Increasing user base is the best way for them to achieve that goal.

While there may be more appliances out there, & some popular ones, they are kind off all off on their own with some random native apps cobbled together out of whatever random sdk the hardware has. The apps almost never coordinate very well with your phone.

Cast is absolutely dominating. Playing a far better game than everyone else. Easy for developers to work with (so easy with the web platform support being built in). Software adoption within a web page makes all the sense & is so easy & flexible. We haven't even seen multi-phone "multiplayer" cast apps get popular but it's easy to do. No one else can compete.

Please let OpenScreenProtocol start getting some traction so we can continue advancing these capabilities & start freely building systems that can work together.

That's not an "hardcore audience" to me. https://www.androidtv-guide.com/