The TV industry is a major segment of the consumer electronics industry and Apple is the leading consumer electronics company in the world. Thus far Apple has entered the TV market with a stand-alone device, Apple TV. There has been speculation about whether Apple might enter the TV market by creating an actual TV. The most convincing objections to that idea cite the unfavorable industry structure: the power of the cable operators, the low margins on TVs, the infrequency of people buying new TVs, etc.
As Chris says, Apple entered the mobile phone market and took over but that’s no reason to think they’ll do the same with television. Phones are intensely personal devices. You take them everywhere. But we’re still kind of tied to the idea that we “go to” a television to consume the content.
The only issue here is the assumption that ‘television’ is a thing and not a service. The cable networks are getting it. Deliver TV over IP to devices which can be played by the user anywhere in their home. It is essentially the opposite of Google TV. They’ll be able to deliver more content, in unskippable ad segments, to more people with more simultaneous targeting. No sense in sending tampon ads to JimmySmith123 and no sense in marketing high end HDMI cables to JennySmith1974.
Better still – let Jimmy send his video over AirPlay to the 60″ Plasma in the den with his brewskis and let Jenny enjoy SatC in the living room with a rum and coke. And when they change room, the video moves with them.
Remember the cut Apple takes from subscriptions? Apple will be making money off the subscriptions, I think they’re happy.
People have to remember that Apple used to be in the TV business. They built tuners into multiple lines of computers and their remotes were pretty nice too. But even for folk like me, two screens was a better way.
I’m prepared to say that Apple won’t enter the TV market the way they entered the mobile phone market. I reckon their move will be to license AirPlay to television set manufacturers and then enable iPad to output all video to AirPlay, negating the need for a long HDMI cable. So yes, Apple won’t make a TV. But they’ll do well in all of our living rooms and dens.