Since its inception, the Apple TV has been nothing more than a self-professed “hobby” for the Cupertino company. But slowly that hobby is morphing into something that will one day be a product pillar for Apple.

Yesterday Apple quietly pushed out five new channels to its Apple TV via an over the air update (if you don’t see them, simply restart your Apple TV). The channels include Disney and Disney XD, The Smithsonian Channel, Vevo, and The Weather Channel.

While the additional channels add more content than ever to the Apple TV, keep in mind that not all of them are accessible in every local across the globe. For example, content through Disney and Disney XD are only viewable in the United States–for now.

Adding channels on the sly to the Apple TV is nothing new. Matter of fact, earlier this summer Apple added other new channels, including Sky News, Vimeo, CrunchyRoll, and Qello.

Apple also recently added a time-limited iTunes Music Festival London channel for the concert series of the same name that takes place in September. But what’s interesting about this latest batch of channels released this week is that one of them–The Weather Channel–is different than all the rest.

The Weather Channel is the first one of all the “channels” that can unequivocally be called an “app.” Why? Though it streams on-demand video content like every other channel on the Apple TV does, The Weather Channel also allows a user to set their location and receive weather forecasts based on that location (multiple locations, actually). This means that for the first time ever, data other than streaming video is available on the Apple TV.

And that’s a very big deal, because though that data is rather simple–it’s just a weather forecast after all–it shows where the Apple TV is headed: towards a full-blown smart television set.

But where’s the real Apple television already?

I often get asked by my friends why Apple hasn’t just come out with a smart television already. However before answering, I first ask them what a “smart television” is. And do you know what happens next? Each friend gives me a totally different response.

For one friend, a smart television is nothing more than a 50-inch iPad. For another, it’s everything that’s in an Apple TV plus an Xbox and PlayStation gaming console. For yet another friend, it’s a big web browser and the control center of his home (lights, alarm, locks–you name it).

This, ladies and gentleman, is exactly why Apple hasn’t come out with a smart television yet. No one knows what one is or should do. To be sure, there are plenty of “smart TVs” already on the market. But that term should be used loosely.

Samsung is probably the leader here, but that’s not saying much. While their “smart” TVs do offer bright, beautiful displays, they lack any kind of intuitive UI, unique feature set, or stable OS. And their lack of direction in a unique feature set shows, because no single smart television has reached any kind critical mass among consumers.

Part of that is Samsung’s fault: they don’t seem to have the vision to show people what a next-generation television can do. But part of that is the fault of consumers: because they themselves don’t seem to know what they should get out of a smart television that they can’t already get out of their computer or smartphone or tablet.

So why should Apple rush if no one knows what a smart television really is?

Where Apple’s competitors never seem to have the patience to watch and wait and get it done right, Apple does. And by adding the seemly simple The Weather Channel app to the Apple TV this week, the company is quietly signaling that it is getting ready to move forward, because you can bet Apple is going to use the anonymous user data from every Apple TV to see how many users actually interact with an app on their TV screen.

And that’s smart, if you’ll excuse the pun, because Apple doesn’t need to be first. After all, they didn’t have the first MP3 player or the first smartphone or the first tablet–they had the best. And the best takes time and observation to get it done right. Because in the end that’s what consumers care about–a product that is done right–and that’s what they’ll rush out to buy.