Although $400 million is nothing to sneeze at, for Apple’s expected $88 billion in revenue for fiscal 2011, the amount is “positive, but fairly immaterial,” one analyst told investors Wednesday. However, the $99 Apple TV could be a “game changer” if some tweaks are made to the box the Cupertino, Calif. company once called just a “hobby.”
Tuesday, Apple took the unprecedented step of announcing ahead of time it expects to sell 1 million Apple TV units by the end of the week. The move was widely seen as a way to steal thunder from competitors, Roku and Google.
The Apple TV device should follow the path of other devices and have an App Store, writes Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu. With games comprising about 40 percent of apps downloaded, Wu believes Apple TV could also be boosted by more game support.
“This capability isn’t available today, but we believe it could be added fairly easily as Apple TV uses a similar A4 processor architecture as the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch,” he said. But how can Apple add multi-touch features to a TV? The answer, according to the analyst, is the Magic Trackpad.
“We also see the potential in other peripherals including game controllers,” he added.
Another potential use for Apple TV would be as some sort of DVR. However, Wu sees the problem being not technology, but agreeing on licensing terms.