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

[MacRumors]

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.

"Apple is leading this nascent market, which it still considers a 'hobby'." says Jia Wu, Senior Analyst at the Connected Home Devices (CHD) service. "As Apple prepares for its expected launch of smart TVs in 2012, rival platforms must accelerate their development plans to keep Apple from running away with the connected TV business, as it has done in smartphones and digital music."

The report also notes that Apple TV users tend to spend more money on TV shows and movies than users of other set-top connected TV players, with 30% of Apple TV owners reported have rented content compared to 20% of owners of other devices.

Overall, Strategy Analytics estimates that the market for connected TV players has doubled this year, reaching almost 12 million units on the momentum of considerably lower pricing compared to previous years. The current Apple TV debuted in September 2010 priced at just $99, substantially cheaper than the $229 price tag on the original hard drive-based Apple TV.

Apple has long considered the Apple TV to be a "hobby", but rumors are increasingly pointing to the debut of a connected television set from Apple as soon as late next year. Such a device would presumably integrate many of the aspects of the current Apple TV box such as iTunes Store access and streaming from iOS devices directly into the television set. Apple is also said to have been working on revolutionary Siri-powered voice input for interacting with the television.

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

 

[hitekalex]

Love Apple TV 2, got 3 of them. Almost a no-brainer for any household with Apple devices and Netflix account.

 

[dagamer34]

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)

 

[gugy]

ATV 2 rocks but an Apple Television not so much.

 

[wrinkster22]

Love Apple TV 2, got 3 of them. Almost a no-brainer for any household with Apple devices and Netflix account.

agreed. And the low price tag makes them even better.

 

[dwd3885]

Apple users spend more money on Movies and TV Shows because have you seen the prices? A movie is $3.99 on the AppleTV, NEVER discounted, and that same movie is .99 cents on GoogleTV and Amazon.

 

[pilot1226]

It would be nice if this supported 1080i/p rather than just 720p

 

[ryanstewart]

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)

An Xbox 360 doesn't appeal to the average consumer like an Apple TV would. Xbox 360 gives Netflix to those who happen to be video gamers. Apple TV gives Netflix to those who simply have a TV = much larger market. Though...I'm with you, I have no need for an Apple TV, because I have my MacBook hooked up to my TV anyway, therefore all my content is already able to be right on my TV.

 

[Yvan256]

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)

Microsoft doesn't have such a huge marketshare outside of the USA. I'm Canadian and I still think it's too big and requires way too much power for what it delivers. The TV costs a lot less than the Xbox 360, is much smaller and fits neatly next to a television. And the interface of the TV is much cleaner and a lot easier to understand and navigate than the one on the Xbox 360.

The Wii can also stream Netflix, and the installed base of Wii is much higher than Xbox. I'm also wondering if Microsoft is counting all the replaced Xbox 360 in their numbers.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Love Apple TV 2, got 3 of them. Almost a no-brainer for any household with Apple devices and Netflix account.

Unless you have other devices that can access netflex.

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)

I have a feeling the stats toss out a lot of things that can access streaming media.
That would mean things like DVD players and game systems are tossed out.
They will act like they are "included" but really it is excluded with out saying anything.

It just needs to be understood exactly what market they are looking at. As long as it is just set top boxes that can just access streaming media and nothing else it is fine.

 

[j_maddison]

It would be nice if this supported 1080i/p rather than just 720p

You can play 1080p using FireCore I believe, but I'm guessing you mean purchasing the content via iTunes as opposed to from another vendor

 

[Kaibelf]

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)

The only issue is that with the 360, if you want to use those services, you also have to pay MS a subscriber fee. I ended up opting for the 99 bucks for the ATV2 because I have no interest in online gaming vs. some kids on headsets, and my MMO works on xbox live silver for free. Not the case for everyone, but certainly, it's a hard sell to say "subscribe with us to have access to a service you pay a subscription fee for elsewhere" when you bought a $300 console already.

 

[RalfTheDog]

32% of the market? For any other company, that would be good numbers. Lets see 90% Apple, then I will be impressed.

 

[drober30]

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)

Mostly kids own Xbox 360 and don't rent movies. Mom & Dad own Apple TV and rent movies. Mom & Dad do not turn on or want to turn on Xbox.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

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 XBox 360 is loud and takes a long time to start up. I won't leave it running all the time because I'm on my third one and I'm afraid it will break again.

The Apple TV is quiet, uses hardly any electricity and is always ready to go.

 

[Superken7]

In 2011? >30% market share?

Wow, Steve would be proud!

Only 19 days left, expectations are set REALLY high ;-)

 

[RalfTheDog]

Apple users spend more money on Movies and TV Shows because have you seen the prices? A movie is $3.99 on the AppleTV, NEVER discounted, and that same movie is .99 cents on GoogleTV and Amazon.

I would be curious as to the quality of the audio (and to a lesser extent the video) on those services versus the Apple TV. If iTunes and the Apple TV has fewer compression artifiacts, I would pay far more than I currently do. Does GoogleTV and Amazon let you redownload movies for life?

 

[igorleandro]

It would be nice if this supported 1080i/p rather than just 720p

Amen to that.

One of the reasons why I still stick to my Apple TV 1st Gen is that it does upscaling to 1080 on its own.

Relying on the TV to upscaling means that you can have substandard quality because the TV is upscaling the streaming, while the Apple TV or the player for the matter would be able to upscale through codecs algorithms which is reading the information directly from the movie file, resulting in higher quality.

That said, content at 720 is not a problem.

I really want a newer Apple TV, however, I'm waiting for a new version capable of 1080 on its own.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Love Apple TV 2, got 3 of them. Almost a no-brainer for any household with Apple devices and Netflix account.

This is what I use my PS3 for. Which means my PS3 is like an Apple TV, but also plays Blu Ray, DVD's, and games.

All these analysts are full of BS, throwing out marketshare %'s nobody knows how they quantified. For an Apple TV to be successful, they need to make a huge power play that changes the whole industry like they did with music. This is gonna be the difference between an Apple TV and a regular hybrid TV. I want to know what that power play is.

 

[nburwell]

Love Apple TV 2, got 3 of them. Almost a no-brainer for any household with Apple devices and Netflix account.

Agreed. Plus, I have the NHL GameCenter subscription, and I love that I'm able to watch the games through my Apple TV. I absolutely love the device!

 

[dexthageek]

The 360 works great for network video playback. And if you use Rivet (OSX) you can even stream your iTunes and iPhoto library to it. With that said, the 360 is a beast if only used for video playback.

You can play 1080p using FireCore I believe, but I'm guessing you mean purchasing the content via iTunes as opposed to from another vendor

Yes, you can play 1080p content. However, it is not displayed at 1080p. The TV2 has a max output resolution of 720p. I have one that I modified and run XBMC on, for playback of my own video collection.

 

[parish]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

When they bring out a new version with 1080p then I'll buy one.

I've not bothered before as it is more of a US-centric device (even the guy in my local Apple Store agreed) but now I've hot an iPhone 4S it will be useful for streaming via AirPlay - but not if the video gets downscaled to 720p

 

[hitekalex]

This is what I use my PS3 for. Which means my PS3 is like an Apple TV, but also plays Blu Ray, DVD's, and games.

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.

 

[Meandmunch]

Increase the performance (A6, 1080p), improve the interface (siri, a web browser), seamlessly integrate iTV 3 into the family of iOS devices with iCloud functionality, offer network style television subscriptions and movies as easily as you do music, Apps and Games, you've finally got a the game changer it need to be.

Bring it!

 

[divinox]

Microsoft doesn't have such a huge marketshare outside of the USA. I'm Canadian and I still think it's too big and requires way too much power for what it delivers. The TV costs a lot less than the Xbox 360, is much smaller and fits neatly next to a television. And the interface of the TV is much cleaner and a lot easier to understand and navigate than the one on the Xbox 360.

The Wii can also stream Netflix, and the installed base of Wii is much higher than Xbox. I'm also wondering if Microsoft is counting all the replaced Xbox 360 in their numbers.

Its not so much that xbox share is smaller outside of USA, but rather that its less of a STB outside of the US. Then again, i doubt the aTV is much different in that respect. As for UI, the latest dashboard on the xbox looks quite nice.