"not just release a Roku with a prettier interface (god that thing is ugly)"
Uh, Roku and Fire TV owner here. What exactly is wrong with the Roku interface? It gets out of the way and lets me get to what I want quickly. This is why I prefer it to Fire TV where anything non-Amazon gets deprecated.
And what exactly makes Apple's offering "over-the-top" compared to any comparable device? This article reeks of bias.
"One big perk of the 4 over the 3 is that more content is available, as nobody's developing channels for the ATV3 anymore."
Sounds like typical Apple. In comparison, all Roku players regardless of the model get all the channels.