Apple TV: $140 million worth sold in three months, but still a 'hobby'

During the most recent conference call discussing Apple's quarterly results, Apple's executives did something highly unusual and divulged actual sales figures for the Apple TV. Responding to a question about Apple's future plans for the TV-centric device, Apple dodged the question (as is typical when it's asked to speculate on unreleased products), and said it still classifies the Apple TV as a "hobby."

That hobby still turns out to be pretty lucrative for Apple, though. Apple sold 2.8 million units during the 2011 fiscal year -- a low number compared to sales of its other devices, but the US$99 product still added $280 million or so in revenue for the year. Nothing to sneeze at. According to Tim Cook, however, Apple's sales of the device for its most recent quarter totaled 1.4 million, so even though the device hasn't been updated in quite some time, demand for it remains steady.

Apple is in a very interesting position where it can consider a device that brought in $140 million in revenue over three months a "hobby." Cook and the other execs on the call gave no indication that the Apple TV would be updated in the near future, so the Apple HDTV remains 2012's Little Rumor that Could.

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Source: http://www.apple.com/appletv/

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Apple TV

Apple is in a very interesting position when it can consider a device that brought in $140 million in revenue over three months a hobby.

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imnastybutler

Pretty friggen easy. ATV is simply an extender to your iTunes library for your TV. Just like the other extenders of your iTunes content (iPad, iTouch and iPhone and Windows/Mac computers). If iTunes is not the center of your media library for any of your content (music, movies, tv shows podcasts and photos) then I would think that ATV would suck for you and I would recommend other alternatives for your content in other formats, directories and files.

January 25 2012 at 11:04 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Soluble Peter

Its already quite easy to use the appleTV to play all sorts of formats of video from your server without a jailbreak. Just use AirVideo on your iPhone or iPad and use Airplay to bounce it to the Apple TV, it works like a charm.

January 24 2012 at 11:19 PM Report abuse Permalink +3 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Soluble Peter's comment

chrism238

It works like a charm, yes, but it shouldn't be necessary to purchase an extra Apple iDevice to do it.

January 25 2012 at 7:14 AM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to chrism238's comment

gk00000000091799

You can use Airvideo server and Erica Sadun's Airflick software to Airplay to videos to your AppleTV from your Mac. No iPhone / iPodTouch / iPad needed.

January 28 2012 at 11:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down

ttringle

I use the appleTV to purchase the shows that I used to pay the cable company for. They run about the same amount as purchasing them on DVD but I get them usually the day afterwards (except when NBC is being a bitch) and have no problem putting my money towards shows I enjoy. Oh and most of them are in HD and look alot better than when I was shelling out $150 per month for overly compressed crap from comcast.

I just wish Apple would take the Apple TV a little more seriously, maybe offer 1080p so all the whiners can STFU about it already, and make it a little easier to play back media from your local network. Don't get me wrong when you have the properly formatted media it's the best streamer for local media but it only plays a small amount of said media. I'd jailbreak it but I really like my Apple TV to work when I need it.

Now if only the stupid TV Contracts wouldn't interfere with keeping things available on the device. I went to rent Battle Los Angeles last night and found out it wasn't available to rent from any of the sources any longer.

It's like they want people to pirate, since I can wait a couple of days to get it from Netflix on Blu or I can download it from a dozen places in less then 20 minutes. When oh when will these guys catch up and realize they would make alot more money by making sure that this stuff is available.

January 24 2012 at 9:31 PM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to ttringle's comment

Mark Shaw

I agree whole heartedly. I would rather pay Apple and get it next day than pay my old cable company. I wish the media dinosaurs would wake up to the digital era or just die off and have some new blood do it. Having things come and go is probably the most annoying thing.

Bring up the HD std to 1080p for there stuff has to be a shoe in for the next gen. I also hope they open an SDK for devs to make apps and of course the usual Apple apps all working with it as well. Who knows if that works maybe I could actually justify the purchase of a wireless keyboard for the living room.

January 24 2012 at 11:11 PM Report abuse Permalink +2 rate up rate down Reply

sip

I think there are a lot of savvy people out there who are just waiting for TV to be turned into a large screen (connected to your 52" TV set) iPad-like device.

I don't own a TV or TV, but would seriously consider getting the whole set-up if I could run Apps on the TV with Apple's blessings, as opposed to jailbreaking the device.

January 24 2012 at 8:20 PM Report abuse Permalink -1 rate up rate down Reply