Apple TV Sales Declining?





Lost in the euphoria of Apple’s staggering fourth-quarter iPhone sales (34,000 units sold every hour, 24 hours a day of the quarter), was the fact revenue from combined sales of Apple TV, iPod and Beats earphones declined 5% to $2.68 billion compared with prior-year period revenue of $2.83 billion.

Indeed, the previous year period didn’t include Beats, which Apple acquired for $3 billion last May.

Apple TV, which streams content (such as Netflix) from the Internet to the television, has in recent years been eclipsed by industry leader Roku and upstart Google Chromecast.

Calls from Apple observers suggesting the company come out with a fourth-generation Apple TV have thus far been ignored. Apple earlier this month announced Apple TV availability of the Tennis Channel, a third-party service that requires a $69.99 annual subscription.

In Apple’s Jan. 27 fiscal call, CEO Tim Cook largely avoided talking about Apple TV, except to reiterate the company has sold 25 million devices since the unit’s launch Sept. 12, 2006.

“We had a solid quarter with existing [Apple TV] product … it’s something that we continue to look at and work on and find a way that we can make even greater contribution than what we’re doing,” Cook said.

