On the eve of WWDC, a speculative story on mp3newswire.net suggests some interesting possibilities for Apple in the video and media space given the explosive adoption of iDevices:
In 1959 5,749,000 television sets were sold in the US, bringing the cumulative total of sets sold since 1950 to 63,542,128 units. This number supported, through advertising, three national television networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS (a fourth, Dumont, folded in 1956) and numerous local independent stations. Television was big business by the start of the 1960’s.
Now here are another set of numbers. As of April this year Apple sold 75 million iPhone and iPod touch units, devices capable of delivering video via Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity. Add to that figure 2 million iPads and counting. By the end of the year Apple should have about 90 million smart mobile devices in the wild.
That makes a proprietary amalgam greater than what the TV networks had in 1959 and one that easily serves as a foundation for a pending broadcast network that will be delivered not through tall radio towers, but through small wireless hubs and the Internet.
Call it the Apple Broadcast Network. iAd is how Apple plans to pay for it.
There’s no hard evidence presented in this article, and broadcast revenue has not been mentioned as a stated goal for iAds. Online broadcasting is very expensive in terms of bandwidth for both providers and receivers. However, many people have been wondering about the “hobby” aspect of Apple TV for some time. Given recent rumors about a new $99 Apple TV, might we be about to see more from Apple on this front?
File this under “view with skepticism” but good Sunday night fodder…
Thanks to Slashdot for the tip.
