Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

Why I'm Glad Apple Inc. Killed Its Smart TV Plans

There's simply no reason for Apple to jump into the crowded low-margin battlefield of smart TVs when it can sell its hardware at gross margins exceeding 40%. Steve Jobs reportedly once told employees, "TV is a terrible business. They don't turn over and the margins suck."

Perhaps Icahn will argue that Apple's brand appeal could convince people to buy $1,500 4K TVs. But in my opinion, TVs don't belong in the same category as smartphones or tablets. Plunging prices across the market indicate that customers favor big screens with low price tags, and the upgrade cycle for TVs is much longer than the one for smartphones and tablets.

In addition, Apple already has a decent foothold in the connected TV market with Apple TV, which accounted for 17% of all streaming media devices in the U.S. last year, according to Parks Associates. That makes it a decent platform for delivering iTunes, its upcoming streaming TV service, and other digital content to customers.

From the article "Why I'm Glad Apple Inc. Killed Its Smart TV Plans" by Leo Sun.

Previously In The News

Consumers Concerned About IoT Data, Privacy

The companies behind the growing Internet of Things may have to do a little consumer massaging (and messaging) to allay some deep concerns before their products can reach heavy adoption. Nearly...

Healthcare Is New Wireless Opportunity

As the U.S. mobile market has reached a point where there are few new customers left to grab, wireless companies might want to begin looking at creating other revenue streams, particularly when it...

The YouTube Stars That 'Nobody' Knows

Really serious hiding-under-a-rock just kills me. So when I read an account of the CableFax Innovation Summit that happened a few weeks ago, I had the same surprised reaction. At this meeting of se...

Marketers: Time To Go 'Over The Top' With Video?

New investments in OTT and recent consolidations in the space seem to show that OTT technology is here to stay. In fact, new research from Parks Associates here shows that OTT video adoption is inc...