What's inside an Apple TV: Tear-down reveals (almost) all
Wondering which firms help make Apple TV possible? Investment researchers over at Prudential Equity Group are supplying some answers after having purchased one of the new Apple devices and torn it down.
"To us, it looks like a scaled down version of a PC," said analyst Mark Lipacis, whose preliminary tear-down confirms an older 1.0GHz Intel mobile CPU (called Crofton) drives the device, along with an Intel Calistoga chipset and Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics processing unit.
The Apple TV purchased by Prudential also sports Broadcom's 802.11n WLAN chipset as well as Realtek's Audio Codec and Fast Ethernet LAN controller. "In our universe, we are encouraged by the 802.11N win by Broadcom," Lipacis wrote in a note to technology investors.
Other significant design wins favor Linear, which is supplying three step-down regulators; Marvell, which is providing the HDD SoC; Foxlink, which makes the circuit board, Silicon Image, for the HDMI output; Silicon Storage Tech, for the flash memory and controller; Texas Instruments for the various analog components and HDD motor controller; and Cypress, which also makes the unit's clock chip and controller for flash.
On the memory side, Nanya and Samsung appear to be the largest suppliers, Lipacis said. The former is supplying 64MB of DDR2 graphics video memory, while the latter serves up 256MB of DDR3 DRAM. (It should be noted, however, that AppleInsider's previous checks indicate the Apple TV uses 256MB of DDR2 system memory, not DDR3.)
Based on Prudential Equity Group?s I/T Hardware Analyst Jesse Tortora?s estimate that Apple will ship 800,000 Apple TV units 2007 and 1.8 million in 2008, Lipacis in his report attempted to calculated what revenues the different suppliers should expect from Apple TV.
See more photos of the Apple TV's internal makeup.
Intel stands to be the primary beneficiary, he said, with estimated sales of $42 million and $93 million in 2007 and 2008, respectively, from the combined shipments of the Crofton CPU and Calistoga chipset. Next in line is Broadcom, which would reportedly reap some $12 million and $26 million in incremental revenue from shipments of its WLAN chipset over the same time periods. Other revenue estimates include $11 and $25 million for Nvidia, $10 and $21 million from Nanya, and $6 and $14 million from Samsung.
Because Prudential's tear-down is preliminary, it does not include design wins for components such as the Apple TV's 40GB hard disk drive, which means that the actual order of beneficiaries is likely a change in the final report.
"While the Apple TV is a high visibility design win, we do not expect it to change the economic fortunes for most of its suppliers," Lipacis wrote in his report. "[However], we do view design wins as a gauge for how competitive individual players are in their respective markets."
"To us, it looks like a scaled down version of a PC," said analyst Mark Lipacis, whose preliminary tear-down confirms an older 1.0GHz Intel mobile CPU (called Crofton) drives the device, along with an Intel Calistoga chipset and Nvidia GeForce Go 7300 graphics processing unit.
The Apple TV purchased by Prudential also sports Broadcom's 802.11n WLAN chipset as well as Realtek's Audio Codec and Fast Ethernet LAN controller. "In our universe, we are encouraged by the 802.11N win by Broadcom," Lipacis wrote in a note to technology investors.
Other significant design wins favor Linear, which is supplying three step-down regulators; Marvell, which is providing the HDD SoC; Foxlink, which makes the circuit board, Silicon Image, for the HDMI output; Silicon Storage Tech, for the flash memory and controller; Texas Instruments for the various analog components and HDD motor controller; and Cypress, which also makes the unit's clock chip and controller for flash.
On the memory side, Nanya and Samsung appear to be the largest suppliers, Lipacis said. The former is supplying 64MB of DDR2 graphics video memory, while the latter serves up 256MB of DDR3 DRAM. (It should be noted, however, that AppleInsider's previous checks indicate the Apple TV uses 256MB of DDR2 system memory, not DDR3.)
Based on Prudential Equity Group?s I/T Hardware Analyst Jesse Tortora?s estimate that Apple will ship 800,000 Apple TV units 2007 and 1.8 million in 2008, Lipacis in his report attempted to calculated what revenues the different suppliers should expect from Apple TV.
See more photos of the Apple TV's internal makeup.
Intel stands to be the primary beneficiary, he said, with estimated sales of $42 million and $93 million in 2007 and 2008, respectively, from the combined shipments of the Crofton CPU and Calistoga chipset. Next in line is Broadcom, which would reportedly reap some $12 million and $26 million in incremental revenue from shipments of its WLAN chipset over the same time periods. Other revenue estimates include $11 and $25 million for Nvidia, $10 and $21 million from Nanya, and $6 and $14 million from Samsung.
Because Prudential's tear-down is preliminary, it does not include design wins for components such as the Apple TV's 40GB hard disk drive, which means that the actual order of beneficiaries is likely a change in the final report.
"While the Apple TV is a high visibility design win, we do not expect it to change the economic fortunes for most of its suppliers," Lipacis wrote in his report. "[However], we do view design wins as a gauge for how competitive individual players are in their respective markets."
Comments
add another percent to sales.
I wonder what it cost them to make it.
Probably around $120-150...
If that's true, then Dolby Digital Live is already integrated but not enabled.
1- There are not enough movies, documentaries, or tv shows.
2- There is no rental, so it gets kinda expensive. And, like many others, I wouldn't buy a movie unless I know it is good enough to buy so I can watch it again later.
3- It gets a little confusing when more than one computer has access to it.
Otherwise, it seems to be a product with a potential. If Apple is able to get most of the movie labels to sign-up, along with most of Discovery Channel documentaries etc. it will be a much better product.
I know, it's v.10? hopefully it'll get better.
I'd like to begin by saying that I have purchased the Apple TV on the first day it was available at the Apple store, they had plenty in stock and not many people were buying them (Tysons Corner Mall, VA) I think Apple is going to struggle with this one. In the beginning at least? I'm basing this on three major shortcomings:
1- There are not enough movies, documentaries, or tv shows.
2- There is no rental, so it gets kinda expensive. And, like many others, I wouldn't buy a movie unless I know it is good enough to buy so I can watch it again later.
3- It gets a little confusing when more than one computer has access to it.
Otherwise, it seems to be a product with a potential. If Apple is able to get most of the movie labels to sign-up, along with most of Discovery Channel documentaries etc. it will be a much better product.
I know, it's v.10? hopefully it'll get better.
These were the same kind of complaints that arose around the launch of iPod.
It's important that the complaints keep coming because even if Apple is already working on these other concerns (and I am fairly certain they are), they at least will have a better understanding of the sense of urgency in the public eye as to which issues need to be addressed most and in what order.
I know, it's v.10? hopefully it'll get better.
What happened to the other 9 versions?
So is 800,000 a pretty good number to shoot for? If they sold that many, would people stop saying it's a "doomed" product?
Well, according to Microsoft 1,000,000 in the first year of a new media device in an existing market is a major success. So I'd say .8M in 9 months in a totally new market would be just a totally wild blow out success -- if M$ were involved. For Apple, I'm sure the pundits will agree it's a total failure/won't last/market anomally/etc.
So is 800,000 a pretty good number to shoot for? If they sold that many, would people stop saying it's a "doomed" product?
Well, I would say it depends if all those 800,000 actually sell or if they are just shipped to retailers. If Apple really wanted to, they could play with the numbers by shipping 800,000 to the Apple Stores even if only 100,000 are actually sold. The Apple marketers can proclaim they reached the projected 800,000 shipped meanwhile Apple Store employees are busy stuffing the break room fridge with AppleTV's because they ran out of other places to store the things.
And it's not an entirely new market. It's an entirely new market for Apple (unless you want to count combining an iPod and an iPod video cable or the Airport Express with AirTunes) but media extenders have been around for some time.
POS GMA 950 that uses 64mb + 12mb for over head = 80mb of system ram?
1- There are not enough movies, documentaries, or tv shows.
2- There is no rental, so it gets kinda expensive. And, like many others, I wouldn't buy a movie unless I know it is good enough to buy so I can watch it again later.
3- It gets a little confusing when more than one computer has access to it.
These were the same kind of complaints that arose around the launch of iPod.
#3 probably applies to iPod, but not the other two. Only major criticisms the original iPod faced were high price and Mac-only compatibility. Getting music into iPod was not an issue.
I won't get an HD TV for at least 2 years so this device means little to me. I think I am in the vast majority, but then again in 2 years, the GUI and platform will mature to the point that it will probably seemlessly fill the DVR and an online rental functionalities at this price point and THEN I'll get it .... version 3.0!!
Getting music into iPod was not an issue.
And getting music for an iPod has never been an issue.
Sources and types of video content for Apple TV are far more limited. I don't see how the current iTunes Store model for video purchases can be anything more than a niche market; it quickly becomes impractically unaffordable for most people. Apple TV will quickly fall into a niche without more flexible alternatives for content, whether it be from the iTunes Store and/or other sources. Apple TV is premature and immature but I think it was important for Apple to get it on the market now.
And getting music for...more flexible alternatives for content, whether it be from the iTunes Store and/or other sources. Apple TV is premature and immature but I think it was important for Apple to get it on the market now.
Looking at the news there are a lot of opportunities for Apple to capitalize on making aliances with other media distribution channels to add value to the Apple TV with freely "Broadcast" services coming and others like Joost or YouTube. Then there is Rental/Subscriptioni models like BlockBuster and Netflix. I don't know if Apple will pursue these in the near future but it would make a lot of sense for them to do so for the very reasons that you point out. Lets face it, for the average person probably 70% or more of their viewing is "free" content from cable, satelite, or OTA, not movie rentals, purchases, or "premium" cable subscriptions.
So would it be possible to install Mac OS X Server on this and run this as a cheap and cheerful server?
I suspect stock OS X of some flavor running on the ? TV will be happening within a month. I'm pulling that out of my backside, but I suspect that will be the case.
That's the point at which I will likely purchase one.