25% of US Apple Customers Own an Apple TV, Survey Suggests

[JohnnyBravo42]

This. Apple TV is a useless device outside the US.

What utter nonsense. I'm in the UK, we use it every day.

 

[jayducharme]

I'd still like to know what Apple "cracked". Jobs reportedly said that about TVs, that Apple had finally figured out the interface. But so far I'm not sure what that was. Siri? Creating their own Apple TV network?

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I have a HomePod, but my biggest gripe with it is the lack of features from Siri and how slow is has been to improve.

Siri has been a train wreck for over 8 years now - what made you think it was going to suddenly be useful?

It is interesting how Apple talks about Siri almost every year, and every year I give Siri another chance, and every year I immediately find that Siri hasn't even remotely improved.

 

[theadz01]

This. Apple TV is a useless device outside the US.

Not true. I am in the UK, and the Apple TV is my main method of watching TV. Netflix, Amazon Prime, iTunes store and all the main UK broadcasters are watchable through the device.

 

[TheFluffyDuck]

I find it unlikely that more people own Apple TVs than airpods. That doesn't sound even remotely likely given the necessity of wireless headphones for the last few generations of iPhone.
Whereas the AppleTV, is pretty much a "Netflix Launcher" which most smart TVs have built in anyway. So I can BS on all of this.

 

[Solomani]

Kind of a surprise. Kind of not as I own 2 myself.
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..but it looks like it had more users than even AirPods. 😳

Well, that's cuz trendy hipsters "want to be seen" wearing their AirPods at work, in the office, at Starbucks, in school, on the subway, on a date, or in the mall, etc. That's why they have so much public exposure.

We don't see people carrying their AppleTV's outside of their homes, nor do we see anyone publicly wearing an AppleTV on their ear 🤣 …..so we easily underestimate how many people actually own them or use them.

 

[hawros]

As a data analyst, I wouldn't trust these results - they don't feel right, so I'd look into some mis-appropriation of what 'Apple TV' is.

 

[az431]

Drop the Apple TV to $69, with an A12, remove the Apple TV 4K or make it Apple TV Pro for $169 with a A12X chip.

At this point, Apple has no competitive edge, most TVs don't need an extra dongle and with the advent of airplay being on every TV, even less incentive for people to buy Apple TV.

Did you even bother to read the article?

 

[MauiPa]

As others have said, this survey is complete crap. 10% of iPhone users don't even know what a HomePod is.

This article should be about how to never spend money with whatever marketing group did this survey.

Not sure if you are making sense. if 10% of all iPhone users don't know what a HomePod is. while a big number, it is small compared to the 90% of iPhone users who do? yes? Are you in marketing?

 

[az431]

As a data analyst, I wouldn't trust these results - they don't feel right, so I'd look into some mis-appropriation of what 'Apple TV' is.

Doesn't bode well when a professional "data analyst" disregards data because it just "doesn't feel right"
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Let's deconstruct your claims for a minute.

• Why drop the price to 69 bucks? Is 169 really that much?
• Do you really need that A12 or 12X chip? In my experience it works just fine with the chip it has.
• There is no need to compete when you own the ecosystem. Few people get this part.
• Most TVs have a crappy UI, terrible OS maintenance, app support and near inexistent developer community. The Apple TV has all that.
• Most TVs also don't act as a smart-home hub. The Apple TV does.
• AirPlay is NOT on every TV. Not even on every NEW TV. Sweeping statement...

Most of this is true except that most Apple TV apps have horrible UIs and are painful to use. Hulu, DirecTV Now, and Sling are all garbage.

 

[MauiPa]

I have a HomePod, but my biggest gripe with it is the lack of features from Siri and how slow is has been to improve.

I have an Apple TV3 but I mostly use a FireTV4K Stick, and will continue to use it until Apple releases an improved ATV4K.

I have one, the great sound quality is the driver. I am not a "talk to appliances" type of guy, Barely use this feature at all (except for set alarms, play this, volume this, on off). Relatives have amazon and google "smart"-speakers, sound terrible, play a few stupid games by asking questions, then walk away and forget it. So I am very happy with HomePod and Siri.

Oh, and the best speaker for watching movies is to airplay sound from AppleTV through HomePod. You can hear the voices very clearly at reasonable sound levels, every other sound bar, and/or tv speaker tried is muffled

 

[2979382]

This. Apple TV is a useless device outside the US.

I live outside the US. So do many of my friends who have AppleTV, and we find it very useful thank you very much.

 

[MauiPa]

Doesn't bode well when a professional "data analyst" disregards data because it just "doesn't feel right"
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Most of this is true except that most Apple TV apps have horrible UIs and are painful to use. Hulu, DirecTV Now, and Sling are all garbage.

but way better than the embedded apps on smart TVs!
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As a data analyst, I wouldn't trust these results - they don't feel right, so I'd look into some mis-appropriation of what 'Apple TV' is.

Did you mean "mis-appropriation"? Just doesn't feel right, so I'd use look into using another word instead.

 

[mattopotamus]

I have a feeling this figure is going to change drastically with the ATV app now available on multiple streaming devices. The competition is priced much better. With that said, apple would much rather have the monthly subscription across all devices.

 

[IIGS User]

I have a fire stick because I all ready have Amazon prime, and there's enough good stuff on there along with OTA broadcasts to divert myself when need be. And it's included with Prime for $100/yr. Pretty hard to beat.

If it's one of those most horrific moments of totally wasteland TV (think college football on Saturdays. I would rather relive my heart surgery on a weekly basis than watch it) I take a walk, or read a book, or anything.

There are a few new shows on Apple TV+ that interested me, but not for the money you have to lay out...

 

[MauiPa]

Siri has been a train wreck for over 8 years now - what made you think it was going to suddenly be useful?

It is interesting how Apple talks about Siri almost every year, and every year I give Siri another chance, and every year I immediately find that Siri hasn't even remotely improved.

Train wreck? Siri is great for me and everyone I know. Even the last professional study of assistants rated Google highest, SIRI slightly behind, and Alexa trailing by a wide margin. And google only gets highest because of shopping related questions (like seriously, someone will really over a six-pack of coke, like the old commercial), and who does that?

Hardly a train wreck.

 

[HowEver]

Have you even been outside the United States?

I find the Apple TV to be completely useful in Canada. Most of what I watch I stream from my MacBook Pro to the Apple TV via my phone. I subscribed to Crave/HBO for a time; watch Netflix using the Apple TV app; and now watch the few shows there are on Apple TV +.

This. Apple TV is a useless device outside the US.

 

[Remy149]

Drop the Apple TV to $69, with an A12, remove the Apple TV 4K or make it Apple TV Pro for $169 with a A12X chip.

At this point, Apple has no competitive edge, most TVs don't need an extra dongle and with the advent of airplay being on every TV, even less incentive for people to buy Apple TV.

I own both an Apple TVhd and an Apple TV 4K. What exactly do we need an a12 model for?

 

[progx]

That’s more than I thought they had. I have three of these beasts: Apple TV 3, 4 and 4K. Before the new tvOS was released, they were fairly solid, but I’ve had nothing but problems since the update. They should make an Apple TV and Music app for Xbox, PS, Roku and Amazon Fire, I still don’t know the point of this device beyond being a premium streaming device.

 

[BigBoy2018]

Doesn’t make sense. I know so many people with AirPods but no one with appletv.

Why yes, since your limited anecdotal experience is certainly more reliable a measure than some nationwide survey.

 

[nvmls]

Train wreck? Siri is great for me and everyone I know. Even the last professional study of assistants rated Google highest, SIRI slightly behind, and Alexa trailing by a wide margin. And google only gets highest because of shopping related questions (like seriously, someone will really over a six-pack of coke, like the old commercial), and who does that?

Hardly a train wreck.

Sure, everyone should buy a homepod.

 

[CarlJ]

I wonder how many people surveyed were like yes I have an Apple TV...

Or who have the Apple TV app on their smart TV. But, yeah, the TV app and AirPlay are probably more ubiquitous. Apple messed up the namespace with and AppleTV app that runs on the AppleTV box or on your phone, and an AppleTV+ streaming service. Couldn't they have added just a few more nouns? So we can tell which one people are talking about without followup questions?

Elsewhere in the thread people are saying that AirPlay is good enough, rather than having a physical Apple TV, but I really prefer not to tie up my phone with being the source for what I'm streaming. Having it standalone with its own remote is much more convenient. (I use an AppleTV as my main way of watching things on my TV, rarely touch the TV's own remote control, and rarely AirPlay video to either the TV or AppleTV.)

 

[gplusplus]

I have one, the great sound quality is the driver. I am not a "talk to appliances" type of guy, Barely use this feature at all (except for set alarms, play this, volume this, on off). Relatives have amazon and google "smart"-speakers, sound terrible, play a few stupid games by asking questions, then walk away and forget it. So I am very happy with HomePod and Siri.

Oh, and the best speaker for watching movies is to airplay sound from AppleTV through HomePod. You can hear the voices very clearly at reasonable sound levels, every other sound bar, and/or tv speaker tried is muffled

You think great sound quality is the driver? You think a HomePod is the best speaker to watch movies with?

Well as they say; ignorance is bliss!

 

[neliason]

I'm in the 75% of the people who currently don't own an Apple TV.

I went with Roku for my streaming device.

Roku is a solid device. I bought a 3rd generation Apple TV when the price went down. I upgraded to a 4K when Direct TV ran a deal. The main reason I preferred Apple TV to Roku was the integration with other Apple products which I own. But with the tvOS 12 update the Apple TV caused my iMac not to sleep. It didn’t just not sleep, every ten minutes it went to sleep only to immediately wake back up. Instead of possibly extending the life of my iMac it was over stressing it.

I submitted a bug report. Months later I got a fix telling me to move the Apple Computer app out of the top bar. That did fix it. But that was a ridiculous fix. Apple has too many products and their software quality is just not up to par. I find many of the services simply don’t work well together and makes me less inclined to want just Apple products.

 

[CarlJ]

I own three, I don't use any of them. I keep them in my hobby drawer.

Why on earth did you buy the second and third if you didn't use the first?
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I went with Roku for my streaming device.

I have a Roku in a box somewhere. The interface is awful compared to the Apple TV.