Apple TV Set-Top Box Predicted to Sell 4 Million Units, Grab 32% Market Share in 2011

maroontiger2k9 · Dec 12, 2011

airplay really stole the show with :apple:

TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called

divinox · Dec 12, 2011

hitekalex said:
PS3 is nothing like an ATV2. It's a giant power-sucking game console, which doesn't integrate into iTunes ecosystem or support AirPlay.. And it costs about 3x times of an Apple TV.

Of course it doesn't, since Apple insists on making their own "standards", instead of adopting the readily available (e.g. DLNA). As for iTunes, who in their right mind wants their neck tied to that? I'm not saying its bad, all I'm saying is choice is good. Plus, of course people don't integrate with the iTunes ecosystem - (afaik) its not like Apple encourage it.

----------

maroontiger2k9 said:
airplay really stole the show with TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called

Its called "walking outside of Apples garden", and its punishable by death!

Wingsy · Dec 12, 2011

dagamer34 said:
What market is this when Microsoft has millions more Xbox 360s already in people's homes? I'm not arguing that the Apple TV won't continue to increase in sales (I have one), but such numbers are complete BS. People are going to buy/rent content either on their 360 or their Apple TV, but not both (in significant numbers)

My 360 sounds like a hair dryer, so it'll never be the source of anything but loud games.

divinox · Dec 12, 2011

Wingsy said:
My 360 sounds like a hair dryer, so it'll never be the source of anything but loud games.

Key reason i sold mine and got a ps3. MSFT certainly need to fix that, come Xboox. Fan noise is disgusting.

RalfTheDog · Dec 12, 2011

maroontiger2k9 said:
airplay really stole the show with TV2

to have iOS devices or a computer and stream to the apple tv, the only thing cooler would be to have that functionality that can access remote servers/external hd content w/o having itunes installed on the device(and not requiring a computer to be running)... i forgot what that functionality is called

In the past, I was thinking about setting up a mondo big network RAID drive that automatically backed it's self up for my iTunes library. Now that you can stream anything you want directly from Apple to your Apple TV, connecting to your big media server is not that big of a deal.

lilo777 · Dec 12, 2011

Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.

Spoony · Dec 12, 2011

Apple TV works well.

Had some non Techie girls over this weekend. The go "Wait how do you have Youtube on your TV?!". They proceeded to watch 20 videos and have a living room dance party.

Best 100 bucks I've spent this year by far.

BC2009 · Dec 12, 2011

The #1 feature needed by Apple TV is the ability to AirPlay no matter what input I am on. There are a few ways Apple can accomplish this.....

1) Have TV manufacturers build air-play directly into their televisions (no apple TV required)

2) Have Apple TV have 2 to 5 HDMI inputs and 1 output leading to your TV, thereby making Apple TV the HDMI switcher, but your TV input would almost always be on the Apple TV so Apple TV could override the signal with AirPlay. I don't see Apple doing this especially since most high-end TV's have lots of inputs folks want to use, but I do this being very useful to folks with HDMI TV's that don't have a lot of inputs.

3) Apple builds their own television.

I could not give a darn about Netflix since their content selection is so limited (though considerably better than Amazon's). I use Apple TV as my pay-per-view source and as a better way to find movies I want to watch that I own on iTunes (going through my DVD carousel is painfully slow -- I would love to have iTunes versions of all my DVDs).

What I would LOVE to see in an Apple TV update:

1) Ability to play iTunes Extras

2) Ability to configure iTunes movies to play with N previews of upcoming movies either from:
- the same genre
- the same studio
--> Watching previews is fun sometimes, especially seeing the old ones on your old DVDs and saying "wow, remember that?"

3) A good solution (see above) to being able to jump to airplay no matter the TV input. 99% of the time my TV is on the DishNetwork input which makes AirPlay inaccessible without first switching inputs.

4) Ability to get free content with embedded commercials.

24601 · Dec 12, 2011

lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.

This thought is based on what functionality of the AppleTV? There is plenty that I use my AppleTV for that smart TVs don't do. Tha biggest is the Airplay type stuff. Most consumers want simple and quick interfaces that don't require techie work-arounds or hacks. They want push-button operation.

AppleScruff1 · Dec 12, 2011

Today tv, tomorrow the world.

Spoony · Dec 12, 2011

BC2009 said:
The #1 feature needed by Apple TV is the ability to AirPlay no matter what input I am on. There are a few ways Apple can accomplish this.....

1) Have TV manufacturers build air-play directly into their televisions (no apple TV required)

2) Have Apple TV have 2 to 5 HDMI inputs and 1 output leading to your TV, thereby making Apple TV the HDMI switcher, but your TV input would almost always be on the Apple TV so Apple TV could override the signal with AirPlay. I don't see Apple doing this especially since most high-end TV's have lots of inputs folks want to use, but I do this being very useful to folks with HDMI TV's that don't have a lot of inputs.

3) Apple builds their own television.

I could not give a darn about Netflix since their content selection is so limited (though considerably better than Amazon's). I use Apple TV as my pay-per-view source and as a better way to find movies I want to watch that I own on iTunes (going through my DVD carousel is painfully slow -- I would love to have iTunes versions of all my DVDs).

What I would LOVE to see in an Apple TV update:

1) Ability to play iTunes Extras

2) Ability to configure iTunes movies to play with N previews of upcoming movies either from:
- the same genre
- the same studio
--> Watching previews is fun sometimes, especially seeing the old ones on your old DVDs and saying "wow, remember that?"

3) A good solution (see above) to being able to jump to airplay no matter the TV input. 99% of the time my TV is on the DishNetwork input which makes AirPlay inaccessible without first switching inputs.

4) Ability to get free content with embedded commercials.

Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.

RalfTheDog · Dec 12, 2011

The only thing that I see as better than the iTunes/Apple TV is Blu-ray. My movie/TV viewing falls into Four categories. If it is a show on TV, I just DVR it on my cable box. (Not as good quality as iTunes or Apple TV, however it does have the advantage of being free.) If I miss a TV show and it does not get recorded due to a service problem, I watch it on iTunes. If it is a movie, I will buy the Blu-ray. I like the low compression 1080p HD and I love the (near) lossless 7.1 channel audio.

I do occasionally have friends over. If they don't like any of the movies in my library, I will rent a movie off of iTunes, however, due to the lower audio quality, I prefer to have them watch from disks.

divinox · Dec 12, 2011

AppleScruff1 said:
Today tv, tomorrow the world.

Three Rings for the Linux-kings under the sky,
Seven for the MSFT-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Android Men doomed to die,
One for the Fruit Lord on his fruity throne
In the Land of Jobs where the Apples lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the fruitiness bind them
In the Land of Cupertino where the Apples lie.

BlueParadox · Dec 12, 2011

Issues with Samsung TV.

Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?

Bought a Samsung Series 7 last year, an AppleTV in October, connect latter to former, works occasionally. More often than not getting 'no signal' message from sTV. Damn frustrating.

I've already:

updated both the sTV & aTV to their latest software updates
exchanged the aTV with a new one @ an Apple store
changed HDMI cable to one of the other 3 ports on the sTV
spoken to Apple techs on phone. Twice
reinstalled aTV software through iTunes. 3 times
had a chat with the aTV unit itself, asking if it's the ongoing legal conflict between the 2 companies that is causing one or the other to ignore the other

Really like the aTV when it's working. Not having any success with troubleshooting so far.

BC2009 · Dec 12, 2011

BlueParadox said:
Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?

Bought a Samsung Series 7 last year, an AppleTV in October, connect latter to former, works occasionally. More often than not getting 'no signal' message from sTV. Damn frustrating.

I've already:

updated both the sTV & aTV to their latest software updates
exchanged the aTV with a new one @ an Apple store
changed HDMI cable to one of the other 3 ports on the sTV
spoken to Apple techs on phone. Twice
reinstalled aTV software through iTunes. 3 times
had a chat with the aTV unit itself, asking if it's the ongoing legal conflict between the 2 companies that is causing one or the other to ignore the other

Really like the aTV when it's working. Not having any success with troubleshooting so far.

If my Apple TV goes to sleep, I find I have to press the menu button to wake it up and get the TV to recognize the input. I don't know if that's what you are experiencing.

RalfTheDog · Dec 12, 2011

Spoony said:
Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.

I use a remote control HDMI switch. It works well.

sinsin07 · Dec 12, 2011

Spoony said:
Agree 100%. It's annoying to swith the input on my TV and switch the input on my surround sound each time i want to go between AppleTV and CableTV.
It takes like 1 min to do it but it's not "seamless" and clean.

Yeah, this is one of the only good feature of GoolgeTV, it goes in between the cablebox and the TV so no input switching. I would prefer my ATV2 did this as I use that more.

h0mi · Dec 12, 2011

MacRumors said:
Market research firm Strategy Analytics today reported on the release of its new research report covering "connected TV players" such as the current Apple TV and Roku boxes. According to the report, Apple is predicted to reach sales of four million Apple TV units for 2011, leading the way in a rapidly-growing market with a 32% share.

I'm surprised they have "just" a 32% marketshare but am more surprised at those sales figures... I thought they sold a million in just a month?

And what other devices are part of this market? Roku boxes? Boxee boxes? Google TV?

neiltc13 · Dec 12, 2011

Who is buying this thing, really?

The TV show and movie selection is very poor and extremely overpriced. There is no DVD or Blu Ray playback, and anything you want to stream to it from your computer has to be in a specific format or it won't work. It doesn't stream TV shows from free online services like BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and it doesn't have Spotify integration.

Couple that with no support for 1080p and the purchased videos being extremely compressed and I'm confused. It might be cheap, but as the iFans seem to agree about Kindle Fire, buy cheap and you get less - it's certainly the case with Apple TV.

I can spend £100 on this or £150-200 on a PS3 or Xbox 360 - both of which do live TV as well.

Icaras · Dec 12, 2011

lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.

Right...Really? Almost every new TV can Airplay straight from my iPhone? Can they also be controlled via the Remote App on my iPhone? What about iCloud iTunes Match? I've got thousands of songs I can play instantly. Same with TV Shows. Can I just instantly start playing TV shows I purchased on iTunes on one of these new TVS? Oh, and photo stream? Instant slideshow from photos taken from my iPhone without even syncing to my computer too. Ah yes, lets not forget I can also play NOVA 2 and Real Racing HD on my TV with my iPad as a controller.

Useless indeed.

notjustjay · Dec 12, 2011

neiltc13 said:
I can spend £100 on this or £150-200 on a PS3 or Xbox 360 - both of which do live TV as well.

Ooh, how do I get my PS3 to do live TV?

Spoony · Dec 12, 2011

RalfTheDog said:
I use a remote control HDMI switch. It works well.

Thanks!

D.T. · Dec 12, 2011

lilo777 said:
Almost every new TV now can do what ATV does and then some which makes ATV a useless gadget. That is unless people prefer to rent their shows from iTunes for higher price. Some iFans do but most people don't.

The UI is so bad/slow on TVs for Netflix, it's worth paying $99 for an Apple TV just to avoid it

(That of course doesn't factor in iTunes sharing, iCloud, Photostream, Airplay, etc...)

Spoony said:
Apple TV works well.

Had some non Techie girls over this weekend. The go "Wait how do you have Youtube on your TV?!". They proceeded to watch 20 videos and have a living room dance party.

Best 100 bucks I've spent this year by far.

Hahaha, nice.

BlueParadox said:
Anyone else having 'running' issues of an AppleTV unit on a fairly recent Samsung TV? Or on another branded, recent model TV?

I'm assuming (though you didn't say), that you've swapped out HDMI cables too?

RalfTheDog said:
I use a remote control HDMI switch. It works well.

Yeah, we've got a nice box from Monoprice that auto switches but also allows remote manual changes. We have 3 HDMI on the Panasonic, but the one on the side we keep open for occasionally hooking up the MBP.

Spoony · Dec 12, 2011

neiltc13 said:
Who is buying this thing, really?

The TV show and movie selection is very poor and extremely overpriced. There is no DVD or Blu Ray playback, and anything you want to stream to it from your computer has to be in a specific format or it won't work. It doesn't stream TV shows from free online services like BBC iPlayer or ITV Player and it doesn't have Spotify integration.

Couple that with no support for 720p and the purchased videos being extremely compressed and I'm confused. It might be cheap, but as the iFans seem to agree about Kindle Fire, buy cheap and you get less - it's certainly the case with Apple TV.

I can spend £100 on this or £150-200 on a PS3 or Xbox 360 - both of which do live TV as well.

The TV show selection is very good and so is the netflix integration.

I watched Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Friday Night Lights, Walking Dead and currently the Wire. I've never seen these shows before when they first came out. A bunch are "free" through netflix and the ones that aren't I do through itunes.

Movies is a different story. Horrible Selection on both platforms.

Also being able to airplay apps like Bloomberg TV + is awesome. Good on demand shows there too.

notjustjay · Dec 12, 2011

Icaras said:
Right...Really? Almost every new TV can Airplay straight from my iPhone? Can they also be controlled via the Remote App on my iPhone? What about iCloud iTunes Match? I've got thousands of songs I can play instantly. Same with TV Shows. Can I just instantly start playing TV shows I purchased on iTunes on one of these new TVS? Oh, and photo stream? Instant slideshow from photos taken from my iPhone without even syncing to my computer too. Ah yes, lets not forget I can also play NOVA 2 and Real Racing HD on my TV with my iPad as a controller.

Useless indeed.

Yeah, Apple's strategy has always been "if you want to use our software/service, you need to buy our hardware". That was the case for Macs and initially the case for the iPod as well.

The key question is "do you intent to buy or rent movies/shows from the iTunes store?" If the answer is NO, then you've got a wide world of media players available to you: WD TV Live, Boxee, XBMC, Plex, your TV's built-in media software, PS3, Xbox, and a variety of DLNA appliances. If the answer is YES, then your options are much more limited.

AirPlay is another major selling point of the Apple TV. It's a great way to send video from your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or even your Mac to your TV, and very few other devices other than Apple TV support AirPlay to your TV. I would, however, love to buy a TV that has built-in AirPlay capability.

Apple TV Set-Top Box Predicted to Sell 4 Million Units, Grab 32% Market Share in 2011

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