“Though the new Apple TV isn’t expected to have a streaming subscription service available at launch, that’s not a problem for investment firm J.P. Morgan, who believes the device’s real selling point will be an App Store with traditional console-style videogames,” Neil Hughes reports for AppleInsider.
“To analyst Rod Hall, the massive $34 billion console gaming market is where the ‘real opportunity’ for a new Apple TV lies,” Hughes reports. “Hall’s self-described conservative estimates suggest that every 5 percent of the gaming market Apple can capture will add about 2 percent to the company’s annual earnings per share.”
“Compare that to a streaming TV service, which he believes will not be greatly profitable due to terms with content owners,” Hughes reports. “His estimates suggest that a $40-per-month subscription plan would add just 1.4 percent to Apple’s calendar year 2016 earnings per share.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Would “yet another gaming console” sell more Apple TV units than an affordable cable/satellite TV replacement for which cord-cutters/would-be cord-cutters have been waiting for many years?
MDN is taking a U.S.-centric line. More than half of Apple’s revenues are non-US… And in the rest of the world we are predominantly free to air (via rooftop aerials). A lot of Aussies have cable as well, but more of us don’t. Cable is even less utilised in Europe.
I don’t have cable. I do have an Apple TV but I only use it for AirPlay – there is nothing on it I am interested in watching – it all costs $$ plus download charges and there is better quality TV on free to air…
What’s wrong in having both?
That would give me choice wouldn’t it? But best of all, It would be and is possible for Apple inc. and the cable companies to realize what sells and when so that very soon, it will be possible to determine whether cable is facing a dead end or an ever diminishing customer base or if gaming is the new TV or just a flash in the pan.
Quite often absolute solutions will run against and absolute walls whilst flexible solutions will flex their way around inflexible situations.
As ever, I try not to be too sensible! 🙂
TV is NOT a TV monitor. What TV monitor these days doesn’t have an antenna port for capturing on air TV signals? Are there any?
Therefore, you click the “Input” button on your TV monitor’s remote and you’re watching what’s coming in over the antenna.
(And just to help out those confused by deceitful TV advertising: There is NO SUCH THING as a ‘digital antenna’. It’s just an antenna. I highly recommend an amplified antenna for capturing digital TV signals, at least in the USA, simply because the technology requires better signal pickup than ye olde analog NTSC TV required).
“Would “yet another gaming console” sell more Apple TV units than an affordable cable/satellite TV replacement for which cord-cutters/would-be cord-cutters have been waiting for many years?”
I’d guess it depends on Apple’s revenue model for the product.
Streaming TV will sell more hardware / games could bring a larger share of the content revenue.
I expect Apple will be doing their usual “Sell the Razor AND Sell the Blades” model, so we’ll get both cheap TV (to sell lots of hardware) and games (to capture a large and valuable new revenue stream).
If I can play FF XIV with a better controller than PS4 then I’m game.
I think they could make a healthy profit selling games with a low cost on the ATV.
I’m not sure that translates into taking on something like the PS4 and cracking the core gamer market but that shouldn’t be required to make a profit in the market.
I’d love to be able to play light games on an AppleTV but I’m certain most of the gaming industry is going to be disappointed because AppleTV won’t support the quality of games a PS4 or Xbox One can. They’ll be saying Apple’s games are too simple. Apple will never likely support hard-core gamers because it’s not large enough of a market. AppleTV is unlikely to come with a hard-drive (or USB port for that matter) to store games on. I know a lot of people are going to claim AppleTV is doomed from the start because it can’t do everything they want it to do. If it supports all iOS games and apps, I’ll be more than satisfied.
If the expectation is to leverage the current iOS game Apps in the App Store for use in Apple TV as a gaming console, I find it difficult to see how it will compete against the traditional consoles that have dedicated controllers. New iOS gaming Apps exclusive to the Apple TV will most likely be necessary. Seems to me it is easier to enter the TV side with a gaming console than enter the gaming side with a TV console.
If the upcoming TV really uses iOS 9, as per vaporous rumors, the device could indeed be used as a gaming console.
BUT…
Q: Will Apple sell the TV as a ‘gaming console’?
A: No. It will be sold in the same way Apple sells any of its many iOS devices. It is NOT just a gaming console.
IOW: Connect a Wi-Fi or (bleh) Bluetooth game controller if you like and thrash away, brave gamer!
Everyone talks about it needing to be a gaming console, or an actual TV, or faster hardware.
But what Apple really needs to get people to cut the cord, aside from content of course, is a DVR.
Not everything will be available for Play On Demand. At the very least, include a USB or Thunderbolt port (with supporting DVR software) so we can plug our own hard drive.
That’s a great suggestion.. I wonder how that would work on the TV sets in Japan with built-in DVR capabilities that you can already plug in your own HDs via USB.. The saved video data seems to be encrypted to only be usable for that set from my experience. Since those sets can record the incoming video stream there might need to be some way to prevent recording of content ‘rented’ via the Apple TV device.