Apple TV sales have slowed “significantly” in 2014, said...
Apple TV sales have slowed “significantly” in 2014, said Strategy Analytics, estimating that 1.9 million Apple TVs were sold in Q2. While over-the-top (OTT) streaming player shipments are expected to rise 54 percent this year on strong demand for “affordable…
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delivery of OTT content on TV screens,” Apple TV’s market share in the segment fell 11 percentage points from 2012 to 27 percent in 2014, Strategy Analytics said in a news release Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1tSZQuR). David Watkins, Strategy Analytics analyst, said Google and Amazon have “staked their claims” on the OTT streaming player segment and the “aging Apple TV is lacking features like voice control, gaming support and, most of all, an open app store.” Some of those features are rumored to be part of the next-generation Apple TV, but “delays are impeding its chance to succeed before Google’s Android TV and Amazon’s Fire TV grab a foothold in the market,” Watkins said. Analyst Eric Smith said the next Apple TV would be “revolutionary” if Apple’s negotiations with service providers would clear the way for 4K video delivery or integrated pay TV and OTT delivery “through a single box.” But Smith said that’s a tall order, citing efforts from tech giants such as Intel that have “unsuccessfully spent hundreds of millions of dollars to break into the pay TV business.” Convincing pay TV providers and content owners “to share control of lucrative video content with non-traditional players will continue to be challenging,” Smith said. Apple had no immediate comment.