In The News

Apple TV Upgrade: Upside Limited Without Content

September 07, 2015

Apple has been working for some time on a cable killer, and is looking to combine broadcast and select cable networks for a cheaper, better-looking bundle. But that isn’t the extent of the company’s content ambitions: As Variety reported exclusively, the company has even made overtures to execs in Hollywood about producing its own original programming, with the goal of building out a production unit that could one day churn out TV shows or even movies.

But no Apple originals are in the foreseeable future, and negotiations with networks to license channels have been slow-moving, forcing the company to postpone the launch of the service until some time in 2016.

Without that content infusion, Apple TV is just another box — and an expensive one: Numerous leaks point to a base model launch price of $149.

That’s significantly more than the competition, which already has been eating Apple’s lunch with cheap boxes and streaming sticks. Roku, whose entry-level devices retail for just $50, sold 34% of all streaming devices in the U.S. in 2014. Apple TV’s market share was just 13%, according to data from Parks Associates, which also has sales of Google’s Chromecast streaming stick and Amazon’s Fire TV devices surpassing those of Apple’s hockey puck.

Consumers are voting with their wallets, argued Parks Associates research director Barbara Kraus: “If I just want to stream, I can do that with a $35 stick.”

From the article "Apple TV Upgrade: Upside Limited Without Content" by Janko Roettgers.

Previously In The News

Two-Thirds Of U.S. Smartphone Owners Listen To Streaming Music Daily

Smartphone owners spend more time per day listening to music on their device compared to other major entertainment activities, says Parks Associate. Their research notes 68% of smartphone owners li...

7-Eleven rolls out Apple Pay, Google Pay to all US stores

Mobile payment apps have gotten off to a slow start and there have been conflicting analyses of their market potential. For instance, customer use of digital wallets stalled in the past year because t...

Nearly Half Of U.S. Broadband Homes Have Multiple Streaming Subscriptions – Study

The number of U.S. broadband households subscribing to two or more OTT services has more than doubled since 2014, according to a new study by streaming media tracker Parks Associates. Nearly half — 4...

Malvern-Based Home Automation Firm Bets Big On Europe

Smart-home technology is building quickly to a multi-billion-dollar business in Western Europe, say market researchers at Parks Associates, and the Malvern-based "Internet of Things" platform develope...

‹
1
2
...
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
...
719
720
›