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Apple TV Business Generated $1 Billion in 2013, Cook Says 'Difficult to Call It a Hobby'

Constable Odo said:
Chromecast sells for $35 and does everything and is totally open, or so Google says. You can almost buy three Chromecasts for the price of one AppleTV. Apple continues to let Google get into its kitchen and that's why Google shares are sitting at $1200 and Apple's shares are continuously heading towards $500. Tim Cook just doesn't understand the gravity of the situation concerning Apple's shareholder value. All the companies Apple could have acquired for almost nothing last year, have practically doubled in value while Apple has simply faded. That's just Apple's horrible management strategy of being penny wise and pounds foolish.
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You do realize that comparing the per share price of one company to that of another is like trying to understand how big a pizza is by asking how many slices it's been cut into, right?
 
Ever since Apple TV joined to my livingroom, I spent at least $50 for musics and movies. I can stream purchased contents without downloading them. That's even half of what a normal household pays to cable TV.
 
7thson said:
Update 11:21AM: Re/code's Peter Kafka says the $1 billion number includes content sales on the Apple TV box, including movie rentals and TV show purchases.

And the shoe just dropped…
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The billion dollar figure CAN'T include media sales if they sold 10million units @ $99 - my math says that's a billion.
 
Kenrik said:
The billion dollar figure CAN'T include media sales if they sold 10million units @ $99 - my math says that's a billion.
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Was it apple that stated 10 million units? Or was it an analyst / blog author that took the $1 billion figure and simply divided it by $100 to come up with 10 million units?

Hard to find any exact quotes at this point. All I can find is the Reuters article.

ETA: Here's a little more from CNET, sounds like it could include media sales, still not real clear...

"That hobby was over a billion dollars of revenue last year," said Cook, during the company's annual meeting with shareholders. "It's a little hard to call it a hobby anymore."
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http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57619693-37/tim-cook-apple-tv-did-over-$1b-in-2013-revenue/
 
I have held off on the ATV despite it being only $100 because I have TiVo and Comcast.

The ATV as is would be a giant step down. However, if they opened it up to an App Store it would be a different situation. Then I could take advantage of all the apps that would be available.

Alas, I anticipate that in order to have an app store they will need to expand the ram and other upgrades and the $100 price tag will go up, again making it hard to justify getting it since I will still need my Comcast subscription to access the TV apps.

Until ala carte is a reality, this will really still be a hobby, even with $1 Billion in sales.
 
Constable Odo said:
You can almost buy three Chromecasts for the price of one AppleTV.
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You realize a Chromecast requires a compatible device to operate, right? vs :apple:TV is able to function independently? The latter means I don't have to give the kids a tablet/phone to watch something, that I can start something with (or even without!) my phone/tablet and then leave the house with it without interrupting others watching (or having to find & transition to another device), I don't have to take a device from a kid playing a game on it just so I can watch something, etc. Yes, the former can work around these (to some degree, maybe), but considering I'm just getting one of them to plug into a thousand dollars' or so worth of A/V equipment, $99 isn't going to induce heartburn.
 
rtomyj said:
So this doesn't show how users are clamoring for an Apple TV (good thing). I'm sorry but then how has google stock gone up if they have been doing nothing with their projects? How about the profit margins on their Nexus and Motos last year?
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Because the markets are dominated by Traders not Investors. Investors look long term. Traders seize on each rumor, each speculation, each twitch of TC's ear and bid the stock up and down.
 
In my house Apple provides 100% of our TV viewing content.

That is no exaggeration. No antenna or cable or Dish in our place.

AND IT'S GREAT!!!!!

Proud cord cutter since 2010.

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Constable Odo said:
Chromecast sells for $35 and does everything and is totally open, or so Google says. You can almost buy three Chromecasts for the price of one AppleTV. Apple continues to let Google get into its kitchen and that's why Google shares are sitting at $1200 and Apple's shares are continuously heading towards $500. Tim Cook just doesn't understand the gravity of the situation concerning Apple's shareholder value. All the companies Apple could have acquired for almost nothing last year, have practically doubled in value while Apple has simply faded. That's just Apple's horrible management strategy of being penny wise and pounds foolish.
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Apple TV is a stand alone device...

Chromecast is a gimped app specific version of Airplay for people that don't know better
 
ctdonath said:
You realize a Chromecast requires a compatible device to operate, right? vs :apple:TV is able to function independently? The latter means I don't have to give the kids a tablet/phone to watch something, that I can start something with (or even without!) my phone/tablet and then leave the house with it without interrupting others watching (or having to find & transition to another device), I don't have to take a device from a kid playing a game on it just so I can watch something, etc. Yes, the former can work around these (to some degree, maybe), but considering I'm just getting one of them to plug into a thousand dollars' or so worth of A/V equipment, $99 isn't going to induce heartburn.
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Do you realize that Chromecast works by a host device being the remote control and that once a video is sent to the screen, the device is no longer needed and you can leave with it?
 
samcraig said:
Well - you keep coming back and you clearly take issue with a lot of the editorial ;)
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But I'm still a fan of Apple and their products. I don't go hanging out on Samsung news/rumors sites bashing Samsung.
 
I think the REAL game changer would be a new interface using apple's matcha purchase. One seamless interface that brings the content from your netflix, hulu plus, amazon, and other subscription services together with content from apple, free streaming sources like PBS and Smithsonian, etc will be a big winner IMO. That, and some iTunes original content of mind blowing quality like house of cards, and apple will basically be saying "climb in or eat my dust" to the entrenched content provider dinosaurs. I still maintain that apple doesn't need the content providers aboard to start shifting the industry - that just need to make it clear how obsolete they are.

A nice bonus would be a next-day streaming service like hulu from apple themselves. Roll it in with iTunes Match and make it $99 a year and we've got a winner.

Finally, build an OTA antenna into the unit and help us utilize the free channels we already have.
 
Kenrik said:
The billion dollar figure CAN'T include media sales if they sold 10million units @ $99 - my math says that's a billion.
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Macrumors extrapolated the 10 million units, Peter Kafka clarified the sources of revenue relevant to ATV. Hope that helps.
 
Rogifan said:
But I'm still a fan of Apple and their products. I don't go hanging out on Samsung news/rumors sites bashing Samsung.
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You don't know that he's not a fan of Apple's products. At most you believe he is critical of Apple and their products.
 
I'm over the hangup of not getting physical media now for my movies and TV shows. If I want to watch a movie or show at a friend's house now, I just bring my Apple TV along, or if they have one, I'll just bring my iPhone/iPad and AirPlay it. Fantastically convenient and I don't have to bitch my friends out for not returning my Blu-Ray/DVD after 6 months.
 
flux73 said:
I'm over the hangup of not getting physical media now for my movies and TV shows. If I want to watch a movie or show at a friend's house now, I just bring my Apple TV along, or if they have one, I'll just bring my iPhone/iPad and AirPlay it. Fantastically convenient and I don't have to bitch my friends out for not returning my Blu-Ray/DVD after 6 months.
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I still like having physical media as at least backup. I would never move to a cloud only solution because there are times servers go down. Or worse (not that Apple is in trouble anytime soon) a company can go out of business and then you're out of luck...
 
Personal Pickup seems to be "currently unavailable". How nice. :)

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flux73 said:
I'm over the hangup of not getting physical media now for my movies and TV shows. If I want to watch a movie or show at a friend's house now, I just bring my Apple TV along, or if they have one, I'll just bring my iPhone/iPad and AirPlay it. Fantastically convenient and I don't have to bitch my friends out for not returning my Blu-Ray/DVD after 6 months.
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I think you need new (better/more considerate) friends :D
 
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