Apple sells 250,000 $99 Apple TVs in first six weeks

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Monday partook in the company's fourth quarter earnings call and broke out a data point that the company usually keeps close to its chest: Apple TV sales numbers.



During the question and answer session of the call, Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes asked Jobs how his "hobby was doing" and whether taking the hard drive out of the latest Apple TV meant Apple was indicative of the company moving to the streaming model on a broader scale.



"We don't talk about unannounced products but I'm happy to tell you what I know about Apple TV," Jobs replied. "We have gone to a streaming model. *It's complete streaming. *All the content is rented from the iTunes store or streamed from your computer. *Or soon to be, streamed from your iPhone or iPad with AirPlay."



"How is our new model doing?," he continued. "I can reveal [that] in just a short amount of time we've already sold a quarter million of them, and we're thrilled with that."



"I think it's a great product and its 99 price point is very enticing," Jobs added. "I think when we get the AirPlay stuff in place before the end of this year it will give another big reason for people to buy it. *We're very happy with how it's turned out."



The Apple TV launched in late September, toward the end of the quarter, and was met with strong demand. Some analysts on Wall Street expect Apple to sell as many as a million units per quarter.



For comparison, sales estimates of the previous generation model were said to be less than 1 million per year. Apple has not disclosed sales of the Apple TV, which has been characterized as a device that sells well in a relatively small market.



When asked by an analyst on Monday's call, Jobs said he was "thrilled" with initial Apple TV sales. The company did not initially volunteer the information, however -- CFO Peter Oppenheimer merely mentioned the launch of the products, without any figures, in his opening remarks.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 37
    I wonder if they will start taking it a bit more seriously since it is evolving beyond the "hobby" level. I'm hoping airplay will work from the MBP and whether my winXP itunes library will be accessible.
  • Reply 2 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skiracer1987 View Post


    I wonder if they will start taking it a bit more seriously since it is evolving beyond the "hobby" level. I'm hoping airplay will work from the MBP and whether my winXP itunes library will be accessible.



    The answer is YES to both your questions/wishes.



    You can already stream media from your MBP to the Apple TV. Either through the Apple TV interface, or use the cool "Remote" app on the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. The remote app lets you browse any iTunes library on any computer (Windows or Mac) and play the media on your Apple TV or Airtunes device(s).



    I had never used the Remote App until I got an Apple TV. It's AWESOME! It gives you some insight into what AirPlay will be able to do soon.
  • Reply 3 of 37
    bdkennedy1bdkennedy1 Posts: 1,459member
    I love my new Apple TV. There's a huge difference in speed compared to the old one. And I don't miss the hard drive. I never used it anyway.
  • Reply 4 of 37
    mgl323mgl323 Posts: 247member
    hmm, maybe I'll pick up a Apple TV when 4.2 comes out. Could be useful for my needs someday.
  • Reply 5 of 37
    Does all your media HAVE to be in itunes I have a lot of stuff on external hard drives in .mkv format and also in .ts? I am currently using a 1st gen WD HDTV.
  • Reply 6 of 37
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skiracer1987 View Post


    Does all your media HAVE to be in itunes I have a lot of stuff on external hard drives in .mkv format and also in .ts? I am currently using a 1st gen WD HDTV.



    I think that is the case without hacking it. However it isn't all that hard to convert to ATV format from anything out there. Easy for me to say with MacPro I guess but on lesser machines leave over night
  • Reply 7 of 37
    1080p output. That's all I want. You can fricking take it in without reencoding, so just OUTPUT it.
  • Reply 8 of 37
    bugsnwbugsnw Posts: 717member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdkennedy1 View Post


    I love my new Apple TV. There's a huge difference in speed compared to the old one. And I don't miss the hard drive. I never used it anyway.



    The speed difference is night and day. No more horrible lag with the interface. The Netflix UI is really nice. I like that I can search and read about movies on my iPad and throw them into the queue to watch on my big screen.



    Even though I saw SJ hold the ATV during the keynote, I was still surprised at how tiny it was in my hand.



    Much improved and even though there is a typical streaming lag due to the lack of hard drive, it's barely noticeable on my hard wired network.
  • Reply 9 of 37
    The 720p looks really very good on my 50 inch set, 1080 is just too much data to stream over most people pipes and Apple is all about the cloud. Overall pretty impressive for $99.
  • Reply 10 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by allotrope View Post


    1080 is just too much data to stream over current U.S. broadband infrastructure, and none of the telecoms feel like changing it when people will pay for what they currently offer



    Fixed.
  • Reply 11 of 37
    aeolianaeolian Posts: 189member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Vatdoro View Post


    The answer is YES to both your questions/wishes.



    You can already stream media from your MBP to the Apple TV. Either through the Apple TV interface, or use the cool "Remote" app on the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. The remote app lets you browse any iTunes library on any computer (Windows or Mac) and play the media on your Apple TV or Airtunes device(s).



    I had never used the Remote App until I got an Apple TV. It's AWESOME! It gives you some insight into what AirPlay will be able to do soon.



    I was very happy when they updated the remote app. You have to try it to understand. It was great on the phone, but on the iPad it's awesome! I can't wait for multitasking with the remote app, or maybe I won't need it with Airplay...
  • Reply 12 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skiracer1987 View Post


    Does all your media HAVE to be in itunes I have a lot of stuff on external hard drives in .mkv format and also in .ts? I am currently using a 1st gen WD HDTV.



    The media has to be in the correct format for iTunes but it doesn't have to be copied into your iTunes folder. I have recordings that I make on my Mac using Elgato's excellent EyeTV. After recording, they are automatically exported by EyeTV into the correct format for AppleTV, or sometimes I use the iPad settings.



    In iTunes preferences, advanced tab, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library." Then, when you click on the file to add it to your iTunes library, iTunes will read it from wherever you have it stored without copying it into your iTunes folder.



    BTW, when streaming these recordings to my AppleTV, it appears that the AppleTV does in fact have a certain amount of storage that it uses as an on-board buffer so that there is absolutlely no stuttering during playback. Great!
  • Reply 13 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fleetst View Post


    The media has to be in the correct format for iTunes but it doesn't have to be copied into your iTunes folder. I have recordings that I make on my Mac using Elgato's excellent EyeTV. After recording, they are automatically exported by EyeTV into the correct format for AppleTV, or sometimes I use the iPad settings.



    In iTunes preferences, advanced tab, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library." Then, when you click on the file to add it to your iTunes library, iTunes will read it from wherever you have it stored without copying it into your iTunes folder.



    BTW, when streaming these recordings to my AppleTV, it appears that the AppleTV does in fact have a certain amount of storage that it uses as an on-board buffer so that there is absolutlely no stuttering during playback. Great!



    Great - thank you very much.... I think I'll be ordering one real soon!!
  • Reply 14 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    1080p output. That's all I want. You can fricking take it in without reencoding, so just OUTPUT it.



    Do you have a 55"+ TV?
  • Reply 15 of 37
    juandljuandl Posts: 230member
    Now that Google's version has shown their wares.



    Could it be possible that Apple could come up with their version of the bigger and badder remote?

    (of course wireless)
  • Reply 16 of 37
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lukeskymac View Post


    Do you have a 55"+ TV?



    Don't start that crap again. I don't know what's up with you peoples' eyes that you can't see a difference between 720 and 1080, but you need to get that checked.
  • Reply 17 of 37
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Laying the ground work for apps and then full-blown A-I-O TVs!!!
  • Reply 18 of 37
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by juandl View Post


    now that google's version has shown their wares.



    Could it be possible that apple could come up with their version of the bigger and badder remote?

    (of course wireless)



    You just don't get it.
  • Reply 19 of 37
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Don't start that crap again. I don't know what's up with you peoples' eyes that you can't see a difference between 720 and 1080, but you need to get that checked.



    Most people don't sit close enough to their TV's, for their given TV size, to get the benefit of over 720p. Perhaps you do, but most don't. And I'd rather have a good quality 720p encode than a crap 1080p/1080i encode any day. I get reminded by that every day by Comcast's crappy quality.



    However, there two things that would make 1080 output a nice feature. First, scaling. If I'm watching a DVD resolution file (or anything that's not 720p), first the AppleTV is going to scale it to 720p and then my TV is going to scale it again to 1080p. Scaling it in a single stage would be slightly better quality. Second, slide shows. You won't notice the difference in video quality between 720 and 1080 as readily as you will when viewing a still image. It would be nice to view my photos at 1080p and there wouldn't be any sort of bandwidth restriction to get the photos to the AppleTV over my network.
  • Reply 20 of 37
    boeyc15boeyc15 Posts: 986member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fleetst View Post


    The media has to be in the correct format for iTunes but it doesn't have to be copied into your iTunes folder. I have recordings that I make on my Mac using Elgato's excellent EyeTV. After recording, they are automatically exported by EyeTV into the correct format for AppleTV, or sometimes I use the iPad settings.



    In iTunes preferences, advanced tab, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library." Then, when you click on the file to add it to your iTunes library, iTunes will read it from wherever you have it stored without copying it into your iTunes folder.



    BTW, when streaming these recordings to my AppleTV, it appears that the AppleTV does in fact have a certain amount of storage that it uses as an on-board buffer so that there is absolutlely no stuttering during playback. Great!



    As I understand it, iTunes must be up and running. IMO a drawback as opposed to just having stuff on a NAS drive that ATV can see. If I'm mistaken please let us know how to set up without iTunes. Wish it had more predefined categories like by actor etc. For 99 bucks it's ok, but would have liked the NAS access etc. I can't bring myself to pay 99 cents for 20 year old tv shows. IMO the movies appear(on my tv) very dark. Roku etc is offering some very interesting competition... Time will tell how all this will play out. Looking forward to airplay, hopefully it won't be crippled due to drm etc issues.
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