I’m sure you all remember the Apple TV; there have been many versions and historically none of them have done very well. That is until the latest one; this time Apple finally has it right and it is showing.
If you are not aware, there is a growing category in consumer electronics for “interent televisions”. What that means is a little box that will allow you to stream your movies, music, pictures to your TV; along with feeding in content from YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu, and tons of other internet sources. Roku is one of the big names (probably a closer competition to Boxee), and if you use it as a marker to compare to the Apple TV you will be amazed just how well Apple is doing. Apple has actually doubled the sales of Roku, which is pretty impressive.
Now many people will argue that Apple finally got it right, however the truth is they haven’t changed very much. What they have gotten right though is timing. The original Apple TV was so early, nobody knew really what to do with it. The market was a niche for geeks, and that is it. Now that a lot of people are buying them, and it is something the average consumer is learning about they finally can Shine. One big advantage they have is there name. Now that consumers are learing what internet tv is, they are being told Apple makes a device; since they know the name Apple and typically associate it with higher quality products they assume it is the best.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a Apple fan boy, and have the Apple TV on my wish list; however I do wan’t to better explain how this is happening. Timing, a brand name, and a relationship to a product (iTunes, iPod) that almost everybody has these days. Because of all this, Apple is expecting to actually have 1 million units sold this week (total, not just this week). This is a incredible number, and something that other devices will be lucky to see by next year.
