“Jefferies & Co.’s Peter Misek, who has a Buy rating on Apple shares and an $800 price target, this morning not only updated his thinking on the iPhone, but also opined that subsidies could be important for sales of an Apple television set, which has been rumored for some time now,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
“Misek estimates a price of $1,250 for an Apple television, which he’s been referring to as ‘iPanel,'” Ray reports. “That’s probably just fine for the mass market, he thinks, but subsidies ‘would certainly improve the value proposition’ for consumers.”
In our view, the iTV presents a new and unique opportunity for the telcos to gain market share in a mature television market, and we believe carriers could, at the very least, be entertaining the idea. For a new FiOS subscriber, we estimate a payback period of 9 months based on an upfront investment of $700 to connect the home to the fiber network and lower initial monthly recurring revenue during the promotion period. Hypothetically, if Verizon offered a $500 subsidy to new FiOS subscribers (but no triple play discounts) along with a $20/month Wireless video fee, the payback period would increase to 13 months. In our view, this modest increase in payback period would still be value accretive with higher customer stickiness and market share gains vis-à-vis competitors that may not offer iTV- like functionality. – Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek, June 6, 2012
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David E.” for the heads up.]
A subsidized TV tied to a network provider? No thanks.
+1
I’ll buy my own, thank you.
I already watch many online shows using my Mac mini connected to my HDTV or my iPad which can also AirPlay it to my AppleTV connected to my HDTV. The only one I pay a monthly fee to is GBTV and I do because I want to support them and their media availability. At this time, the online is free and they play one commercial where the cable company that I pay a monthly fee to puts 6 to 8 commercials in at that point. Some have no commercials at all.
Apple can cut our monthly media/phone/internet bill in half or a third by dropping the phone and the bundled show costs from the bill. Put FaceTime on the AppleTV and let Siri find the online media file for you from the source. CUT OUT THE MIDDLE GUY! Fewer commercials on the online copies and you didn’t need to record it on your DVR. You can watch it anywhere you have high speed connection.
Monday is going to be a great developer conference for Apple and us!
And the problem with your business model is that it severely cuts revenue to the content providers by cutting out commercials and/or monthly fees per subscriber paid by the cable/satellite providers. No content provider is going to stand for that.
i sure hope apple has something better in mind than all these speculations about what apple might release, because i just can’t see (many) people buying what the rumors are saying will happen.
I understand that Apple is working on a TV display. To differentiate it from the rest of the market, it has been rumored that the new display will show moving images (in color no less). I’m hoping to get one if they can keep the price around $99.00
Why would I need to buy a data plan for my TV? I already have broadband in my home — just connect via WiFi.
Somebody needed some hits today . . . .