From "Apple TV Is Missing the Moment" posted Tuesday as a Bloomberg Technology newsletter:
The current iteration of Apple's television set-top product has roots in the mid-2010s, when the urgent priority for Apple in its post-Steve Jobs era was boosting its presence in the living room. That brought us a revamped Apple TV in 2015 that included an App Store, a remote with touch controls, gaming functionality and deep integration with the Apple ecosystem.
Now, half a decade later, the product is facing intense competition... There's also the issue of price. The latest 4K Apple TV costs $180. By contrast, Amazon.com Inc.'s TV stick (a device that plugs directly into your HDMI port) costs just $50. And Amazon sells a full-fledged box for $120 that lets you bark voice commands from across the room. Meanwhile, Roku’s priciest player is currently $80, and Google recently launched a well-received new Chromecast for $50.
One differentiator for the Apple TV might have been exclusive access to content, but in recent years the industry has shifted to a model where everyone's content is available everywhere...
For next year, Apple is planning an upgraded box with a stronger gaming focus, an updated remote and a new processor. Those changes will fix some of the Apple TV box’s issues, but the product will need to take another big leap—akin to its 2015 changes—to remain competitive in the long term. Either that or it needs to get a lot cheaper
My take: No question a better/cheaper Apple TV missed this year's biggest gifting opportunity. But as a long-time user I have to say that if the new box isn't a lot better and/or cheaper it might not be worth releasing.
And no, I don’t want to talk to Siri to control my TV.
“…apple tv only bleeds money…”
Any proof?
I don’t think so. How can there be when Apple doesn’t break out its services revenue?
You’re kidding, of course. Or dense. Apple faced intense competition from the beginning. And they’re still here.
Seems like there’s a raft of anti-Apple stories all of a sudden….
Same pattern every Christmas for the last two decades I’ve been involved with the stock.
Agreed .. and hoping it works.
Yeah, I figured that. Parasites and leeches, one and all.
We’ll have to agree to disagree (which happens a lot with me…)
If you figure half a billion devices can show Apple movies (some of which are pretty darned good), and they make $1 average profit from movies on each device, that’s still a half a billion dollars. In other words, it’s easy for them to make enough to at least break even, especially since, by making their own movies, they’ve cut out the middle-man. And note that they only have to break even, because Apple makes most of its profit off its hardware, which is “valued” on what it gives its customers (like a few more good movies!). Good entertainment is just one more item Apple gives its customers.
As regards Netflix, Spotify, Roku, etcetera, they have to make profit off of stuff other than hardware, so aren’t comparable.
As regards “adult content”, sure there’s easy money there, but why tarnish the brand for a few lousy bucks? And it’s not “censuring” when you can get that content elsewhere, now is it?
Joseph is correct. Self-made video content is growing. That does not diminish produced video content, regardless of delivery. The pie is growing – not a zero sum game.
Re Apple TV, the box: Apple please get this right.