Tim Cook swears Apple TV isn’t just a hobby for the mothership anymore, but according to the latest estimates, it might be time for Apple unleashed some new non-hobby Apple TV features if it wants to catch up to Roku and Chromecast.
New data from Parks Associates reveals that while the Apple TV streaming box has been available for over seven years, Chromecast has already surged past Apple TV in 2013, making Google’s tiny stick the most popular streaming device in the U.S.
Google has already sold about 3.8 million Chromecast units since revealing its streaming device in mid-2013, which puts it roughly equal with Roku’s sales through 2013, according to data from Parks Associates. Apple TV comes in at third place with only 2 million units sold in the U.S. last year.
Outside of the U.S. though Apple TV is dominating. Over 20 million Apple TVs have been sold since its launch in 2007. Roku on the other hand only has mustered up 8 million total sales by the end of 2013, but it’s only available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Ireland rather than the dozens of countries Apple TV is sold in.
Google is hurrying to catch up to Apple on the global stage and has already made Chromecast available in 19 countries, but Parks estimates that Chromecast owners are actually using their device less frequently than they did six months ago, even though per-minute usage of active devices has continued to rise.
Via: GigaOM
