Apple TV tops connected set-top box chart
More owners than its rivals. They buy more content too
And the most popular net-connected set-top box is… the Apple TV.
So says market watcher Strategy Analytics, which calculates the small black gadget is to be found in no fewer than eight per cent of US households.
The £99/$99/€119 Apple TV is in seven per cent of European homes too.
That, SA said, gives Apple 32 per cent of the connected TV player market. Not bad for a product the company has always claimed to be a "hobby" project.
By the end of 2011, Apple will have shifted 4m of the 12m such devices that will have shipped worldwide during the year, SA said.
Roku's eponymous box follows Apple's, with kit from Western Digital, Boxee, Sony, Logitech and others bringing up the rear.
Apple TV owners buy more content too. SA found that 30 per cent of them rent films and TV programmes, compared to only 20 per cent of the owners of other devices. ®
COMMENTS
Fail
Because it didn't include consoles like the PS3 that include settop TV functionality.
Sounds like another one of these reports from analysts that nobody has ever heard of, that has found some way of cherrypicking some data to suit the needs of his clients...
Not sure about consoles.
Very few people buy a ps3 just to be able to stream media from their pc or the internet to their telly. Whereas for AppleTV and Roku and the rest, that's their primary function.
Also, the types of people (like me) who would buy an AppleTV, are also going to have at least one console connected to the telly as well. And I use both for streaming video media (AppleTV streams iTunes content, PS3 streams avi's and divx's).
So including consoles would complicate the results terribly because you'd have to account for those that bought and use multiple devices. Whereas I doubt anyone uses both a Roku and an AppleTV.
And the best thing about it?
Jailbreaking it and running XBMC. I've got 2 now and have never used any of the Apple software on them.
It's a study of actual set top boxes, not games consoles.
From the study at
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=6921
"Among many options consumers can choose, purchasing a Connected TV player/set-top-box from retail is one of the easy options."
See - "easy options" - this is about consumers, not bloody geeks who managed to finagle TV functionality out of their PS3s. Stop thinking the rest of the planet wants a PS3 as they're thinking they would like a games console with - oooo, look - some set top box functionality.
They don't. They want a set top box to hook up to their TV for more TV.
I'm surprised someone so quick to jump to the easiest negative conclusion went AC - unless you have some proof somewhere that Apple bought the study, pipe down. Note - they may well have done so, I just ain't seen proof they have.
Alternatively you can leave the TV switched off, and simply press and hold the un marked button in the middle of the cursor (the select button I think) on the Apple Remote until the light blinks and the Apple TV will now be in stand by.
Hope this helps.
PB
