Support this Site
Become a Six Colors member to read exclusive posts, get our weekly podcast, join our community, and more!By Jason Snell for Macworld
How an Apple TV stick could make Apple’s video streaming service an instant hit
You might have missed it between all the turkey brining and Black Friday sales, but last week The Information reported that Apple has considered making a tiny AppleTV “stick” similar to those made by competitors like Amazon and Roku.
Up to now, Apple has been steadfast in holding the line on Apple TV pricing. When the company introduced the Apple TV 4K, it didn’t even drop the price on the fourth-generation model—they’re still both for sale, at starting prices of $149 and $179 respectively.
Compare that to the competition: You can buy a Fire TV Stick for $40 and a 4K version for $50, and comparable devices from Roku cost $30 and $40, respectively. Yes, these sticks are underpowered compared to Apple’s box—Roku’s Apple TV equivalent box is $100—but no matter how you measure it, Apple’s not competitive in the TV box market when it comes to price.
That’s Apple for you. It’s never been the low price leader. The difference is that in 2019 Apple’s going to be launching a new video streaming service, featuring more than a billion dollars in content that it’s been buying for more than a year now. And while people will be able to watch that stuff on their iPads and iPhones and Macs, it won’t be easily accessible on a TV without an Apple TV.
We are in an era where Apple is trying very hard to grow its services revenue, from the App Store to iCloud to Apple Music to, yes, this new video service. The question is, is the growth of Apple’s video service important enough to abandon high margins and prices of hardware products like Apple TV? According to The Information, Apple has at least thought about it.