Apple Abandoned Low-Cost TV Dongle Plans, but Looking to Double New Apple TV+ Content Rate in 2022

[w5jck]

Last time I checked, 4 x 0 = 0, so increasing the number of garbage shows by 4 is still equal to garbage. They love to report how many subscribers they have. I would love to see the number for the tens of millions of us who tried Apple TV+ for a year or more for free, but quickly dropped it when we had to start paying for it. IMO, it isn't worth the monthly fee. Very little content, and what content they have is of little or no appeal to me. I like my Apple TV 4K 2017 streaming box for streaming other services and apps, but I rarely ever streamed anything from Apple's line up that was worth watching. They need to fire Schiller and all the rest of that overpaid baggage and move into a new era.

 

[sw1tcher]

An inexpensive Apple TV (dongle) with no internal storage for $50-$70 would have been nice. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Rogifan]

They probably abandoned it because it would be too cheap to make/price and would cannibalize into the over priced 4kTV.

Bingo. Though I wonder how many AppleTV pucks they’re selling right now.

 

[LunarFalcon]

I like Jo, LOL

 

[Rogifan]

It just doesn't make any sense for Apple to enter that market. Their choice to let companies like Roku offer the Apple TV app instead is a better compromise.

Why doesn’t it make any sense? Not every product Apple makes has to be premium and premium priced.

 

[DJC631]

It's amazing how they keep failing into success.

 

[jason4427]

is there a Apple TV app for android? If not, why don’t they develop it?

Yes there is. At least on my Sony TV.

 

[Zdigital2015]

The AppleTV app works just fine on my FireTV 4K and as long as it does, I don’t plan on spending $ on an actual AppleTV 4K, they’re just not a good value.

 

[HiVolt]

That's a poor decision and will hurt adoption for sure. Here in Canada the old-as-dirt Apple TV HD 2015 (Non-4K) is $199!!!

I can pick up an Amazon Fire Stick for $40-50 depending on what's on sale on Amazon - And there is never a sale at Apple, and retailers here do not discount Apple products very much at all.

 

[Maconplasma]

Roku's business model is to sell all your data and be a giant advertising business on the front and back end.

Any proof of Roku selling your data? Never heard of that. For the past years I’ve used Roku the only advertising they do on screen is for movies and their own product. I have no problem with that.

 

[siddavis]

Greg Joswiak and Phil Schiller reportedly overruled Twerdahl, insisting that Apple should not begin making cheap, low-margin devices due to its potential to damage its reputation for premium products, meaning that Twerdahl's low-cost TV device project was abandoned. Twerdahl is said to have recently left the company.

Apple decided that an appropriate middle-ground solution would be to develop apps for Apple TV+ on other platforms, such as devices from Samsung, Roku, Amazon, Sony, and Microsoft, which aligned with earlier concerns among executives, including Eddy Cue, that Apple TV+ would need to be available on a wide range of devices, including non-Apple ones.

This seems (a little at least) contradictory to me. "We can't soil our brand by making low margin devices, so instead, we'll put our product on other crappy low margin devices that we have no control over."

 

[mark-in-mk]

I like Jo.

 

[jz0309]

Yay, twice as many articles on MR for Apple TV+ content, I really look forward to that -NOT… I like my Apple TV box but I cancelled ATV+ after the free year, nothing of interest for me

 

[bommai]

Last time I checked, 4 x 0 = 0, so increasing the number of garbage shows by 4 is still equal to garbage. They love to report how many subscribers they have. I would love to see the number for the tens of millions of us who tried Apple TV+ for a year or more for free, but quickly dropped it when we had to start paying for it. IMO, it isn't worth the monthly fee. Very little content, and what content they have is of little or no appeal to me. I like my Apple TV 4K 2017 streaming box for streaming other services and apps, but I rarely ever streamed anything from Apple's line up that was worth watching. They need to fire Schiller and all the rest of that overpaid baggage and move into a new era.

I guess to each their own. Compared to Apple TV+, only HBO Max has good quality stuff. Most of the other streaming services have a lot of junks. Most of the shows I have watched on Apple TV+ have been of great quality.

 

[damienbutt]

Are people actually paying for Apple TV+?

The content is boring. There is will never be anything edgy on it. It’s Apple. They wont have their service showing anything remotely contentious.

Similar thing can be said of Apple Arcade. What a load of rubbish. The games on there are for kids or OAP’s that don’t like serious games.

I’ll take them when they are free. For whatever reason I randomly keep getting free trial offers. I sign up of course because why not. As soon as that email comes through saying the free trial is ending and they are soon going to charge me, I cancel. It’s not worth paying for.

 

[FasterQuieter]

I bet they abandoned it because they couldn't decide which chip to put in it. Watch chips would be too feeble graphically and A-series chips overkill. Making a whole new chip for this one niche thing isn't something they'd do. Maybe a future watch chip would cut it.

 

[kirbyrun]

Apple has also reportedly told advertising partners that it will not buy campaigns for Apple TV+ titles on Facebook or Instagram.

This is what interests me the most. Apple is standing by its antipathy toward Facebook and its kin, even though it's clearly a costly decision -- some Facebook and Insta ads would no doubt plump their viewership.

 

[Runespeaker]

I like Jo.

Me too, she’s one of my favorites on Mythic Quest. That said, totally see her as an Android user 😄

 

[400]

Don't really care what it is delivered on, for my tastes the Apple TV+ content is bereft of anything that will snag my interest. I had the free year trial and barely watched anything (Greyhound was about it). I only have the Apple TV 4k because I buy the iTunes films on the cheap. Pile the content up, buy old shows, get eye candy stuff to get interest, do short term hire from other studies and so on. I spent more enjoyable time watching old re runs on britbox than watching ATV+

Though a capable box is useful, one with a bit of future proofing in for when my TV no longer gets the updates on the apps )as it is now) and there are cheaper ones than Apple out there.

Cannot help but feel they don't know what to do with it. Don't even use it for games anymore.

Wonder how low they can go on the cost of the box.

 

[sdreamer07]

Ugh... scrap the box and just dongle the thing. I am so sick and tired of my Roku. Apps constantly crashing, and Youtube constantly signs my accounts out for no reason. I thought about just getting a second Apple TV but that will take up another AC socket, and I'd have to mount it somewhere because this is a wall mounted tv.

 

[mastercheif91]

I think they made the right decision.

Streaming dongles are a fading market. Smart TV platforms are "good enough" for the large majority of consumers in 2021. Not only do they ship the AppleTV+ app on the various Smart TV app stores but they nearly all include AirPlay 2 functionality at this point.

Looking at the Smart TV sales data it would appear that AirPlay 2 is available on 85%+ of TVs shipping today.

Also worth looking at this chart showing the existing marketshare per manufactuer and per OS/platform:

Roku, Google, and Amazon have been tripping over themselves for years to ship as many $30-50 streaming dongles as they could. They have a grand total of 13% marketshare to show for it.

 

[jonnysods]

I'm surprised that the ATV is as big as it is, and that they didn't just have them all look like this dongle. I figure the processor and memory isn't that big.

 

[ignatius345]

Other tidbits from the report include the fact that Apple has endeavored to protect its brand within Apple TV+ shows,

I'll say. You can't go five minutes through Ted Lasso without a very conspicuous shot of an iPhone or MacBook. I mean, fine, whatever -- but when Coach Beard said he was "sharing his iCloud" with his girlfriend, that just felt SO ham-fisted. (Also, Coach Beard seems like more an Android guy to me, tbh.)

 

[ian87w]

Make sense. Unlike other providers, Apple wants to make money on anything they sell, including Apple TV boxes. Other providers would sell the set top box at cost/a loss, recouping the revenue from subscription. That's not Apple's way. Apple wants to have profit for everything. Thus the reason Apple made Apple TV app available on Android TV. That will take care the lower end market. Even my cheap Xiaomi box can install Apple TV app now.

 

[skitidetdu]

This is ridiculous if it is real. As if only likable people use Apple products?!

Pretty common in movies outside of Apple tv+ productions as well.