“Analysts and consumers alike consider 2013 to be a middling year for Apple, at best,” Mike Schuster writes for Minyanville.
“iOS 7 and iPad Pros [sic] were both celebrated additions to its roster, and the newly designed Mac Pro harkens back to when Cupertino could still wow us just with a sleek design,” Schuster writes. “But whereas the iPhone 5S and 5C garnered ho-hum reactions from those looking for revolutionary updates to the company’s smartphone line, anyone hoping 2013 would be the year that Apple finally saved TV was woefully disappointed. In fact, analyst John Siracusa slapped the company’s current TV offerings with an F grade. ‘[It’s] a hard problem and a tough market,’ Siracusa writes. ‘But it’s time for action.'”
“As it stands, the Apple TV set-top box is the company’s only official, yet lacking, solution in a burgeoning home-entertainment market,” Schuster writes. “Still considered a “hobby” to Apple since the first-generation model debuted seven years ago, the set-top box falls short of delivering the ‘wow factor’ inherent in the company’s other product lines. And with the mythical Apple HDTV set still bearing the mark of vaporware, Cupertino continues to fall behind its competitors as their sets, boxes, and dongles gain traction in a growing market.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple has fallen so far behind “rivals” with Apple TV that they only have the number one selling third-party set-top box.
As for the rest of Schuster’s mistake-ridded pap, anyone who considers the world’s first 64-bit smartphone, Touch ID, the world’s first 64-bit tablets, iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, iBeacon, iWork for iOS/OS X/iCloud, iTunes Radio, MacBook Air notebooks with all-day battery life, and more to be “middling” or “ho-hum” must be a mouth-breathing fragmandroid settler.
Related article:
Apple TV dominates digital media receiver market with 71% share – May 29, 2013