Towards the end of yesterday’s fourth quarter earnings call, Jobs revealed that the third generation Apple TV has sold over 250,000 units since its release six weeks ago. Jobs indicated that he was happy with those numbers, and for a “hobby” device, they are decent enough. In the previous quarter, the iPad’s first, Apple sold 3.27 million iPads. If the Apple TV maintains its current pace, it would be expected to sell a little over half a million units in the same length of time, so these numbers do somewhat pale in comparison to those for some of Apple’s other devices. Jobs also indicated that he thought the launch of AirPlay might make the Apple TV even more desirable, so perhaps sales will not just maintain their current pace but increase over the next few months. Either way, sales are likely to be better than the first two generations of the Apple TV, which supposedly sold less than 1 million units per year.
I’m not surprised at the reported numbers. The third generation Apple TV has a few features that certainly made it more interesting than the first two generations. And, the reduced price point makes it an easier item to splurge on. Those two factors combined should result in better sales for this generation of the device. But, the features you get with the Apple TV do not make it an indispensable device, at least not yet.
Article Via AppleInsider
