One of the first mainstream devices of its kind, Apple TV is a big seller worldwide. Apple has sold 25 million of the boxes in its lifetime, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in March. That beats Roku's 10 million total sold as of last year. Neither Google nor Amazon has released stats for their streaming devices, Chromecast and Fire TV, respectively.
However, Apple TV has been slipping. Last year, its US sales fell to fourth place behind Roku, Chromecast and Fire TV, according to estimates from market researcher Parks Associates. Strategy Analytics, another market researcher, similarly notes that for the first time, Apple sold fewer Apple TVs in the second quarter than it had a year earlier.
Last year, Parks Associates reported an even smaller percentage of streaming-media device owners who use voice controls, putting the number at about 4 percent. Barbara Kraus, director of research at the firm, noted that gaming consoles, not streaming-media devices, are the natural place for spoken commands to break out because video games are more interactive compared with the passive act of watching TV.
From the article "The next Apple TV puts company in rare role: Playing catch-up" by Joan E. Solsman.
Data is really the new area of competition. If the pay-TV providers are looking at competition long-term in the future, that's the main concern. - BRETT SAPPINGTON, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT PARKS ASSOC...
“Nothing in our proposal would prevent Comcast or TimeWarner from what they’re doing with Roku or Apple TV, or how they decide to pick what devices to share their app with,” says an FCC spokeswoman....
The Roku Channel is also turning heads. The company's ad-supported channel was named one of the three best ad-based over-the-top services among U.S. broadband households according to Parks Associates,...
Last August, market analysts at Parks Associates found that more than any other streaming media device -- including those from Amazon, Apple, and Google -- Roku was the leading brand and had increased...
