“Analyst Maynard Um with UBS Investment Research does not believe it is a foregone conclusion that Apple will enter the television market by manufacturing its own HDTV,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider. “But he does believe the ‘logic is sound’ for Apple to enter the market with a new product differentiated enough to stand out from the competition.”
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“‘We believe Apple is most likely to target the fusion of TV and (set-top box) market, the connected TV, as it enables Apple to add value through its innovative hardware/ease of use, iTunes ecosystem and provide a better overall consumer experience,’ Um wrote in a note to investors on Monday,” Hughes reports. “Based on the market capitalizations for seven of the largest television set vendors, Um believes Apple could increase its own market cap by $100 billion if it could gain a similar share of the industry value as other major players like Sony, Samsung and Philips.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Why Apple should drop Apple TV to $49 and market it as an iOS accessory – July 8, 2011
Analysts: Apple-branded television on track for 2012 – June 27, 2011
Analyst sees iCloud as further evidence of Apple television coming late 2012 – June 23, 2011
Apple to enter TV business later this year, says former executive – June 21, 2011
Lunacy.
Did you mean, perhaps, “iTunacy”?
(Or are you one of those oh-so-pompous anal-ysts/prognosticators/financial gurus who SWORE up and down AAPL would never, never, NEVER reach $300 per share? All of a sudden those revered folks have melted into the woodwork, not to be heard of again. Laura Goldman anyone?)
Note To “His Shadow”: ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. In the same vein, ’tis better to bet on AAPL long term than to poo-poo it in the short. AAPL’s market cap is now 11 times that of DELL, and $100B (50%) larger than MSFT’s. Who woulda’ thunk it as little as five years ago?
Yes, this reminds me these nonsensical aspirations by “analysts” for Apple to release a PDA in the early 2000s.
Based on market cap?!?!? Sony, Samsung, and Philips make many more products than TV’s.
Absolute Lunacy!
The TV market has lots of competition and thin margins. The AppleTV lets people add Apple functionality to their HDTVs for $99. I don’t see an Apple-branded TV set as being a smart way to go for Apple. But I am not part of the Apple management crew (shareholders can now breathe a sign of relief), so what do I know?
I have a Roku box – not sure about how I would feel having that built in to a TV. Same with DVR – could be embedded in a TV. But does that make sense? What parts/functions tend to wear out first? What parts/functions are most likely to need an upgrade or replacement? If those functions are packaged in modular hardware (e.g., plug-in cartridge) with an open standard interface and upgradeable software/firmware on the TV side, then I would be interested. Ditch the cables and plug the stuff straight into the TV.
TVs are a commodity.
Apple doe not do commodities.
I wish these anal-ysts would get their heads out of their rectums.
They might not be the only ones seeing their lower intestines. Apple must make a TV. But it won’t be called a TV. It’ll be another iDevice that’ll be very different than the 20th paradigm of viewing devices that were designed only to receive broadcast signals and A/V signals from VCRs and DVD players. Apps, NFC, touch-to-share, an OS. And with iCloud, there’s even less doubt about this then there was before. But it’ll be hard to see it coming as long as some folks are too busy studying those evacuation pipes.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that “UBS” ends with the letters “BS”.
Please, just let this rumor die already.
Let me correct MDN’s headline:
Analyst: Out of his mind.
Um, dare I say it? um, err, Maynard is smoking some, um, pretty awful weed.
Ummmm….nonsense.
Best Buy reported last Christmas season that HDTV sales were far below the 2009 Christmas season. The 2009 year was really the first year when HDTVs became very affordable for most people, and they responded by buying them in droves.
Now the big rush to get an HDTV is over. Yes, people still buy them, but for many, many people, they have their HDTV already. So Apple produces one with a built-in AppleTV? Big deal. They can buy a set-top box for $99 instead of a new HDTV for $1,500-$2,500 or more.
Apple has been consistently moving away from products which only get replaced every 4-5 years and into products which get replaced every 1-2 years. TVs are completely opposite of this, as they only get replaced every 5-10 years.
Unless someone can kick the cable cartel’s arse to where Cable Card is nothing more than a unicorn, there is not much room in the TV biz in these United States. The cable cartel hangs on to their business model and flaky boxes ( Cisco should be ashamed ) with shitty interfaces and awful performance like a shipwreck survivor does to a lifeboat.
If the cartel could be forced by the market or regulation to support Cable Card, Apple could build a magnificent ATV or Set that would change everything. Getting ConCast & others to do so would take some very serious mojo from Steve Jobs himself. It would be on par with what had to happen to get the iPhone on AT&T.
Without the liberation from shitty cable boxes we are stuck where things are unless Apple wants to string it’s own cable or buy a satellite service.
Here we go again.
http://themacadvocate.com/2011/04/13/please-shut-up-about-apple-making-a-tv/
Yup just don’t get why this would be a good idea. Apple doesn’t distribute wide enough for the TV market. Margins low and the AppleTV interface would need to interact with a cable box.
AppleTV is a good approach. A cheap add-on that can probably start to run games with an iOS update.
I think Apple will do this eventually. Apple did not develop Apple TV, just to sell it for $99 and make $30 profit per unit. That’s why Steve Jobs keeps calling it a “hobby” (even now) – because a tiny box that connects to your HDTV is not the end game.
Apple CAN make a sufficiently-differentiated HDTV product that sells for $999 and make $300 profit per unit. The little Apple TV box will continue to be sold for $99.
Apple sells iMacs, with built-in displays. There is no headless desktop Mac model with equivalent power (even though such a model would be popular), because Apple makes more profit per unit selling the complete system. MacBooks also have built-in displays. Mac mini is Apple’s low-end headless system. Would Apple rather sell a Mac mini or an iMac?
The current Apple TV design will become the equivalent of Mac mini. It will be available at a low price (for customers who do not need a brand new TV), but Apple will focus on selling the “complete system.” And every complete Apple TV sold instead of an Apple TV box generates TEN times the profit per unit. THAT is when Apple TV loses its “hobby” status.