Apple TV Sees Major Sales Growth in 2015 But Still Ranks as Fourth Most Popular Streaming Media Player

[Juicy Box]

How many 4K TVs are actually being sold every quarter? 4K content is still pretty limited as well.

All of them. I'm surprised to see people continue to ask this question. Almost every new TV over 40" is 4K with HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2

I remember a business week article that I read a few months ago. To sum it up, article claimed that 4k TVs will be in about 50% of US households in 2024, only 10% by 2018.

But, I wished the ATV4 did have 4K.

Absolutely love the Apple TV, though one of my friends has a Chromecast which works really well, too. Though I prefer the Apple TV because it doesn't rely on my phone for everything.

Requiring a phone or other device to control the Chromecast is a deal killer for me. I bought one just to try it out. it was really cheap. Now it sits in my tech junk drawer.

 

[Westside guy]

I love my Apple TV 3, but then I also use AirPlay quite a bit - so for me that's a killer feature. I haven't seen a good reason to upgrade to v4, though.

As an aside - anyone blaming Apple for the fact that Prime isn't on the ATV hasn't been paying attention.

 

[ericgtr12]

Seems Plex is available for AppleTV: https://plex.tv/appletv

Thanks, looks like 4th gen only? Unfortunately both of mine are third. Good to see they've adopted it though.

 

[sir1963nz]

with no 4K, lucky to be 4th.

Who cares, 4K as far as I am concerned is right up there with curves screens, 3D, etc etc etc. With moving objects they eye is simply not fast enough to keep track so the brain cheats and creates filler based on what it previously saw.
High res is NOT going to improve that. If you want to spend you time looking at stills, go for it, anything else is just a lie.

 

[JackANSI]

Absolutely love the Apple TV, though one of my friends has a Chromecast which works really well, too. Though I prefer the Apple TV because it doesn't rely on my phone for everything.

Wow. I only use the remote app because it takes too long to scroll through my movie list with the remote. From A to 9 takes just shy of 3 minutes of holding that button.

*grumble grumble piss poor UI*

(ATV3 here, I'm not a sucker so I didn't buy ATV4)

To be fair there are a good 10-30% that I could get rid of... but a well designed UI would take into account that someone might, just might, purchase a good portion of the content for sale. Unless of course they weren't confident that content would sell on their platform (iTunes/etc).

 

[sir1963nz]

Looks like the answer is in - too high a walled garden. That is unfixable.

You obviously know sod all. Plex, VLC are both available.
Never mind that you can set up your own iTunes media server and stream what you like from it.

Better than 90% of our "TV" viewing is done via the Apple TV these days.

 

[jdillings]

I'm not surprised. I'm a pretty big fan of Apple products, and I've had my eye on the Apple TV for a while, but there just hasn't been a good reason to buy it. The ads make the Siri assistant seem pretty cool, but Siri is more trouble than she's worth on my iPhone, so I'm a little skeptical of her performance on the Apple TV.

Skeptical of Siri on the Apple TV? It's the killer feature! Just some of the cool stuff you can do:

1) Play latest episode of a TV series without opening the app first. Example: Say "Show the latest episode of Game of Thrones" (need HBO Now/Go app)

2) Play specific episode of a TV series without opening the app first. Example: Say "Play Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 3" (need HBO Now/Go app)

3) Go straight to a live stream without opening the app first. Example: Say "Watch ESPN live" or "Watch ESPN2 live" (need ESPN app)

4) Get the starting time and broadcast channel of any sports game. Example: Say "When does the game start?" It will bring up all the sports and all the games playing that day along with what channel they are on. Or just a specific sport "When does the basketball game start?"

5) Easily rewind video when you didn't hear what a character said. Example: Say "What did he say?" It rewinds 15 seconds, turns on close captioning, and then turns it off automatically when done.

6) Find out who stars in what you are watching. Example: "Who stars in this?" The names and pictures of the actors appear at the bottom of the screen.

7) Search within a specific app without opening the app first. Example: Say "Show me comedies on Hulu"

...and much more and I'm not even including Apple Music examples.

 

[Mike MA]

This makes sense for products that are released about every year. It just seems kind of pointless for the ATVs situation. Would they do the same for the dated TB Display if Apple Released a new one? IDK.

Or if you want to point out how a big or long awaited update increased sales figures compared to before. Btw, I would have expected the sales growth to be higher considering the rather huge ATV2/3 life cycle.

 

[apolloa]

I looked at the new Apple TV, but as here in the UK we don't get any of the al a carte services it's no different to any other streaming box.
I weighed my options and got a Nvidia Shield Android TV for my last birthday, use it every day, it's so fast, small, silent. It's a shame about Alphabet's idea of an app store for the the device, Nvidia does more of an effort for games! But you can't get a freeview streaming app for it. It has iPlayer and the ITV, channel 4 and channel 5 stuff but that's all from one app.
However if you use SPMC it's all made up for

Still would be nice to have the same apps as you get on the Fire TV (Which I did have but boxed away now) as that has 2 that stream feeview UK channels, and one is TV Player that also offers a cheap monthly subscription to get History channel and Discovery channels etc.

The future is streaming, we need the apps to get that on out devices!

I consider the Shield TV to be like the first gen Apple TV, one of those special devices that you can hack to do crazy things, I love how the first gen Apple TV can run full Apple OSX!! Now that's a streaming device!

 

[kas23]

Apple makes money from hardware, not iTunes (unlike Amazon). Do you have a link to Vudu's statement? Apple has previously said "all are welcome."

Did you not read about Apple latest earning results?

 

[cmichaelb]

with no 4K, lucky to be 4th.

Why? How many people actually have a 4K tv or understand why it's different?

People don't even understand an LED backlit TV is still an LCD.

 

[Juicy Box]

Skeptical of Siri on the Apple TV? It's the killer feature! Just some of the cool stuff you can do:

1) Play latest episode of a TV series without opening the app first. Example: Say "Show the latest episode of Game of Thrones" (need HBO Now/Go app)

2) Play specific episode of a TV series without opening the app first. Example: Say "Play Game of Thrones, season 2, episode 3" (need HBO Now/Go app)

3) Go straight to a live stream without opening the app first. Example: Say "Watch ESPN live" or "Watch ESPN2 live" (need ESPN app)

4) Get the starting time and broadcast channel of any sports game. Example: Say "When does the game start?" It will bring up all the sports and all the games playing that day along with what channel they are on. Or just a specific sport "When does the basketball game start?"

5) Easily rewind video when you didn't hear what a character said. Example: Say "What did he say?" It rewinds 15 seconds, turns on close captioning, and then turns it off automatically when done.

6) Find out who stars in what you are watching. Example: "Who stars in this?" The names and pictures of the actors appear at the bottom of the screen.

7) Search within a specific app without opening the app first. Example: Say "Show me comedies on Hulu"

...and much more and I'm not even including Apple Music examples.

I have had mixed results when using siri on the ATV4. Sometimes it works great, other times, I get no results on stuff I should get results on.

 

[cmichaelb]

Apple doesn't allow Ultra Violet/Vudu or Amazon Prime


and they wonder why

Yes, they do. Amazon plans on releasing their Prime app this year.

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The problem is no HDMI pass through, so you overlay the OS on screen over regular tv. It would be more convenient and get people more interested.

 

[Juicy Box]

Or if you want to point out how a big or long awaited update increased sales figures compared to before. Btw, I would have expected the sales growth to be higher considering the rather huge ATV2/3 life cycle.

I agree.

 

[MH01]

Keep in mind, these percentages are from 2015. It's been a few months, and assuming Apple's growth continued its safe to assume they're at least tied or even ahead of Google and Amazon.

on the flipside, the 2015 numbers are bumped up by the launch of ATV 4, given the most loyal fans updated Asap I can see the ATV sales drop off in 2016, cause frankly it's too expansive for what it is, and the second hand markert is now flooded with them. I think the chromecast was the best selling device in 2015, though ATV did okay, I guess many bought into the TV OS to be disappointed .

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes, they do. Amazon plans on releasing their Prime app this year.

I hope you are right, but I keep hearing this and it never seems to happen.

Anyone remember the MR article on Amazon video app coming to the ATV4 by the end of 2015?

 

[jdillings]

I like my ATV 4 and like seeing Apple continue to invest in upgrading the features. Here are a few nice additions for the future if you are interested -

1. Adding a earphone jack to the remote (a la Roku) - well I guess with the lightning port maybe they already have it and just need to enable it.
2. Better controller support for gaming. I tried a couple in store and found them not great and the remote is terrible for all but a few basic games.
3. Better deals with providers so that their apps work without having to log into my non-existing cable account.
4. Amazon Prime (I know this is an Amazon problem not Apple, but still want it).
5. Homekit App to control things though the TV. Actually would love some integration that could set the lights and sounds based on what was playing.

6. Always on Siri

 

[MH01]

Yes, they do. Amazon plans on releasing their Prime app this year.

Same was said in 2015, same is being said in 2016.

 

[cmichaelb]

I hope you are right, but I keep hearing this and it never seems to happen.

Anyone remember the MR article on Amazon video app coming to the ATV4 by the end of 2015?

Amazon needs to step it up. They probably have it as a low priority so they sell more Fire tvs.

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The other thing holding back Apple tv besides not having an HDMI pass through, is requiring all games work with the remote or a controller. If they allowed controller only games, they'd pick up a lot of people who are casual gamers or don't want to invest in something like a PS4.
[doublepost=1463521237][/doublepost]

Same was said in 2015, same is being said in 2016.

By Amazon, so it's up to them.

 

[R3k]

Apple doesn't allow Ultra Violet/Vudu or Amazon Prime


and they wonder why

Or perhaps they would allow prime but Amazon are not into releasing their service on a competitors platform. Geez. I mean, they 'allow' Netflix.

 

[bitfactory]

Been using Roku since the first generation and never had a reason to switch.

Except for the fact that using the Roku UI is as responsive as dragging a cinderblock through a 3 feet deep mud pit.

The latest gen aTV finally gives me a super responsive streaming box. I immediately gave my variety of Roku models to Goodwill.

 

[MH01]

Amazon needs to step it up. They probably have it as a low priority so they sell more Fire tvs.

_____________________________________________________________________

The other thing holding back Apple tv besides not having an HDMI pass through, is requiring all games work with the remote or a controller. If they allowed controller only games, they'd pick up a lot of people who are casual gamers or don't want to invest in something like a PS4.
[doublepost=1463521237][/doublepost]

By Amazon, so it's up to them.

Casual gamers have an excellent alternative in the nvidia shield TV, far superior as a steamer and a gaming solution to the ATV. If you wanted casual gaming , it's the clear winner.

Amazon will not release an Amazon app for iOS, they have too much invested in Prime, new top gear spin off etc, and will want to sell their own boxes. Slowly they are creating thier own ecosystem, an app for iOS would undo that, instead they offer a damn cheap firestick if you want to get into the ecosystem , something apple cannot do...thier entry box is $$$.

Be interesting what the top gear spin off does for sales numbers....I can see quite a few apple fans who like topgear getting a Amazon device to watch the show .

 

[jdillings]

Vudu already CONFIRMED that Apple won't allow it

they are a streaming service, not a hardware company, why on earth would they not want it on Apple TV when it's on every other device that allows it?

There are plenty of devices that don't have a VUDU app. I think the Amazon Fire TV still doesn't have one. Remember VUDU is the same company that won't allow their customers to watch the HD (HDX) versions of their movies on any IOS device even though their UV competitors like Flixster do allow you to watch the HD version on any IOS device. VUDU is as backwards as they come and they would be out of business if they hadn't been bought by Walmart.

 

[Juicy Box]

Amazon will not release an Amazon app for iOS, they have too much invested in Prime, new top gear spin off etc, and will want to sell their own boxes. Slowly they are creating thier own ecosystem, an app for iOS would undo that, instead they offer a damn cheap firestick if you want to get into the ecosystem , something apple cannot do...thier entry box is $$$.

You mean tvOS right?

 

[newdeal]

There is only one problem with it and that is price point. I was pumped to buy one before it came out but after hearing the price I just couldn't justify $200 Canadian for an apple tv when I have so many other devices to play Netflix