Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

The next Apple TV puts company in rare role: Playing catch-up

One of the first mainstream devices of its kind, Apple TV is a big seller worldwide. Apple has sold 25 million of the boxes in its lifetime, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in March. That beats Roku's 10 million total sold as of last year. Neither Google nor Amazon has released stats for their streaming devices, Chromecast and Fire TV, respectively.

However, Apple TV has been slipping. Last year, its US sales fell to fourth place behind Roku, Chromecast and Fire TV, according to estimates from market researcher Parks Associates. Strategy Analytics, another market researcher, similarly notes that for the first time, Apple sold fewer Apple TVs in the second quarter than it had a year earlier.

Last year, Parks Associates reported an even smaller percentage of streaming-media device owners who use voice controls, putting the number at about 4 percent. Barbara Kraus, director of research at the firm, noted that gaming consoles, not streaming-media devices, are the natural place for spoken commands to break out because video games are more interactive compared with the passive act of watching TV.

From the article "The next Apple TV puts company in rare role: Playing catch-up" by Joan E. Solsman.

Previously In The News

Apple Mulls Time Warner Takeover; And Possibly Netflix

Parks Associates recently found that Amazon has moved into a virtual tie with Google at 22% of sales for streaming media players (Roku claims the top spot). Apple TV comes in at fourth place with 20%...

On-Demand Tech Support Companies HelloTech, Geekatoo Merge

Geekatoo Executive Chairman Christian Shelton saw demand for tech services rising as more people add internet-connected devices - such as the smart thermostat Nest or WiFi camera Dropcam - to their ho...

Apple May Be Prepping Siri for Smart Home Duty

Entry into the smart speaker market makes sense for a company with smart home aspirations. "As the success of Echo and Google Home took off, everyone expected Apple to follow suit," said Brad Russe...

Roku cuts price on top streaming player to counter Apple TV

Although it is much smaller than its rivals, Roku is the leading seller of video streaming players in the U.S. with a 37 percent share of the market, according to the research firm Park Associates....