Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Why is Apple customers' appetite for its products insatiable?

Besides new phones, Apple is expected to significantly upgrade its Apple TV set-top box, which has barely changed since it went on sale in March 2012. The key difference in the new one, expected to cost about $149, will be voice-activated searching (using Siri) and control across multiple sources of content such as Netflix and iTunes, plus the App Store allied to a motion-sensitive controller, rather like Nintendo’s Wii.

The changes look timely, if not overdue. Apple TV is outsold by challengers including Amazon and Google, according to market research firm Parks Associates. Amazon’s Fire TV set-top box already has a voice-controlled interface, and Google’s Chromecast plug-in stick can be used to ‘cast’ content directly from a computer or phone to the TV. But there is plenty of room for growth, as only 20% of US households with broadband have a streaming device, the report found.

The refreshed Apple TV could also add the capability to play games and other apps. With gaming already a huge pursuit on smartphones, the prospect of it on a TV is exciting to iPhone developers, who for years have been wishing for a new Apple platform for apps. 

From the article "Why is Apple customers' appetite for its products insatiable?" by Charles Arthur.

Previously In The News

What Can Yahoo's Online Video Assets Do For Verizon?

Distributing its video out to its various websites could be a boon to Yahoo. Parks Associates' Brett Sappington predicted that traditional magazines may make a leap to presenting their content via onl...

Comcast is totally okay with you not having an Xfinity set-top box

“Pay-TV providers want to retain subscribers, so they want to make sure that you stay inside their ecosystem,” says Brett Sappington, a media analyst at Parks Associates. “If you don’t have a reason t...

Finding OTT's Tipping Point: Three Factors Could Push It Past Pay-TV Subscriber Totals

The evolution of content distribution and the consistent growth of over-the-top (OTT) streaming generates industry predictions of the inevitable decline and fall of pay TV. As video ecosystems collide...

How Netflix is adapting as the streaming boom stalls

“There’s only so many consumers out there that are willing to pay full price,” said a research analyst with Parks Associates From the article, "How Netflix is adapting as the streaming boom stalls....