Apple TV is the companies set-top box that hooks up to your television unit and allows you to stream media either through its apps, or to work in conjunction with iTunes and the Apple ecosystem. Streaming media services have really taken off as of late, and they will probably replace standard cable altogether. However, as more and more companies enter the streaming media market, the Apple TV is becoming not as successful as the company initially hoped. While the Apple TV device was one of the first on the market, it has never been very successful. While Apple is known for their innovative, game-changing products it seems that the Apple TV could be somewhat of a let down, and its loosing market share everyday.
The Apple TV was fist introduced all the way back in 2007 and was designed to deliver movies, tv shows, music, and media to television sets. Apple themselves have called the Apple TV a “hobby”, yet they continue to produce the device. The device was released to initially positive reviews, yet it never took off as well as the company would have liked. Over the previous three years, Apple has given the Apple TV the most amount of attention ever. We are currently on the third generation of the Apple TV and it has seen some much needed upgrades such as a UI overhaul, the implementation of AirPlay, and added applications. In the United States Apple has added iTunes Music, iTunes Radio, YouTube, Vimeo, Netflix, Hulu Plus, Disney, HBO GO, WatchESPN, MLB.tv, NBA, Major League Soccer, Vevo, NHL GameCenter, The Weather Channel, PBS, Crunchyroll, Bloomberg, PBS Kids, Fox News, Beats Music, CBS News, and a few other channels. Priced at $99 dollars the Apple TV has 512mb of RAM, an Apple A5 processor, 8GB of internal storage, HDMI out, and has Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities. The Apple TV is also a pretty nifty device to have if you have a Mac, an iPhone, and frequently use iTunes as Apple is well known for their ecosystem and all of these devices work well together. Yet despite all of that sales of the Apple TV are slumping, and the device could use some saving from Apple if they want their device to be a major player.
Recent data has come out from Parks Associates that clearly show that Apple TV has lost marketshare this year. While gaining some slight traction in 2013, the Apple TV has fallen back a bit, and it seems like it is on a downward slope. Roku has been dominating the streaming media industry ever since they launched their product line, and the Google Chromecast is also gaining a lot of traction. Currently Roku still remains the leader and controls about 29% of the market share (down from 46% last year). Much of Roku’s lost market share was gobbled up by the Chromecast which controls 20% of the market, while the Apple TV only controls just 17% of the current market. Behind Apple is Amazon’s Fire TV and their Fire TV Stick. While they were just recently launched, it is expected that they grow and gain more of the streaming media industries market share.
So why is Apple TV loosing so much traction? Well first and foremost, the device is old, and I don’t mean “old” the way Apple defines the word since they update their products every year. We are talking old from an industry standard. The last major update that the Apple TV saw was back in 2012. While Apple released a new version in 2013, it only featured a slightly improved processor, however the update was so minimal that it can barley be called an update. The gap between the older Apple TV model and the newest one is extremely large; the current Apple TV is just extremely dated. While rumors suggested that Apple would release a new Apple TV this year, those rumors panned out to be, well, rumors. Additionally, the current competition offers much more affordable devices that can pretty much do all of the same features of the Apple TV, if not more. The Chromecast is just $35 dollars, the Roku LT and the Roku Streaming Stick are $39 and $49 dollars respectively, and the growing Amazon Fire TV Stick is $39 dollars. Not only do Apple’s competitors offer products at a much lower price, but their competitors offer way more channels and apps, and some can even play video games. Also, consumers who have Xbox’s, Playstation’s, or Wii video game consoles can pretty much get all of the same features as well.
Apple really needs to revamp the Apple TV as it is in dire need of a upgrade. They needed to innovate a product that offers something different that their competitors, and perhaps even lower their price. When your competitors offer devices that cost $30-$40 dollars with all of the same features, it should be no surprise why you are loosing marketshare.
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