“Apple’s latest attempt to revolutionize our TV screens is continuing to lose steam,” Chris O’Brien reports for VentureBeat. “According to the latest data from eMarketer: Apple TV ‘is at the bottom of the U.S. connected TV market, behind Google Chromecast and Roku, with its share shrinking.’” Ouch.”
“That underwhelming assessment comes over a year after Apple relaunched Apple TV (in October 2015) with great expectations,” O’Brien reports. “eMarketer reports that Apple is used by just 11.9 percent of connected TV consumers. That’s down from 12.5 percent in September.”
“It also continues a steady drop from 12.6 percent in 2015 and 13.5 percent in 2014, according to eMarketer,” O’Brien reports. “By contrast, Google’s Chromecast climbed to 19.9 percent over the holiday quarter, up from 18.4 percent in September and 16.2 percent in 2015. Roku may have been the biggest winner this quarter, coming in second with 18.2 percent, up from 15.2 percent in September.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: $35 for Chromecast vs. $149/$199 for Apple TV.
Profit share trumps unit share. Just look at iPhone: 106% of the smartphone market’s profits on unit share in the teens.
That said, perhaps having a 4K-capable Apple TV for Christmas 2016 would have been a good idea.