main.ts

import {Component} from 'angular2/core';
import {bootstrap} from 'angular2/platform/browser';
import 'rxjs/Rx';
import {HTTP_PROVIDERS, Http} from 'angular2/http';
@Component({
    selector: 'app',
    template: `
    <ul *ngFor="#person of people | async">
        {{person.name}}
    </ul>    
`
})
export class App {
    people = this.http
        .get('http://swapi.co/api/people')
        .map(res => res.json().results);

    constructor(public http:Http){}
}
bootstrap(App, [HTTP_PROVIDERS]);

Prefer:

export class App {
    people: Rx.Obervable<any>;
    constructor(public http:Http) {
        this.people = this.http
                .get('http://swapi.co/api/people')
                .map(res => res.json().results);
    }
}

Reason: Its clear to see from the constructor any significant initialization. This is just the way I've done it in the past when $http.get would actually send an XHR.

PS: It this was React I would be looking at componentDidMount : https://facebook.github.io/react/docs/component-specs.html#mounting-componentdidmount (mentions XHRs should happen here) < This might be a completely useless piece of information but explains where I am coming from 🌹