Providing Market Intelligence for 40 Years

In The News

Why is Apple customers' appetite for its products insatiable?

Besides new phones, Apple is expected to significantly upgrade its Apple TV set-top box, which has barely changed since it went on sale in March 2012. The key difference in the new one, expected to cost about $149, will be voice-activated searching (using Siri) and control across multiple sources of content such as Netflix and iTunes, plus the App Store allied to a motion-sensitive controller, rather like Nintendo’s Wii.

The changes look timely, if not overdue. Apple TV is outsold by challengers including Amazon and Google, according to market research firm Parks Associates. Amazon’s Fire TV set-top box already has a voice-controlled interface, and Google’s Chromecast plug-in stick can be used to ‘cast’ content directly from a computer or phone to the TV. But there is plenty of room for growth, as only 20% of US households with broadband have a streaming device, the report found.

The refreshed Apple TV could also add the capability to play games and other apps. With gaming already a huge pursuit on smartphones, the prospect of it on a TV is exciting to iPhone developers, who for years have been wishing for a new Apple platform for apps. 

From the article "Why is Apple customers' appetite for its products insatiable?" by Charles Arthur.

Previously In The News

Subscribers Churning Through Video Streaming Services At ‘Record’ Rates During Lockdown

A new study has good news and bad news for the proliferating group of subscription video-on-demand services, especially the big new ones backed by major media companies. On the one hand, consumers are...

CES 2022 Recap: The Show Must Go On…And It Did

It’s also important to point out that CES is a showcase for actual product vendors and an event to learn about what’s happening in the consumer technology space. For example, it was immensely gratifyi...

Finally: Every Baseball Team’s Sports Network Is Available On At Least One Streaming Service

As YouTube TV’s recent rate hike shows, these services themselves are not immune to rising programming costs. And the same traits that make streaming much less customer-hostile than cable or satellite...

Netflix Earnings Preview: Is Streaming Video Giant Still Snagging New Subscribers?

On top of that, the industry churn rate—a metric used to reflect cancelled subscriptions to streaming services overall—shot up 41% in Q1, the most recent statistic available, as consumers experimented...