Okay, we’ve heard before that Apple should or is going to get into the incredibly fractious TV set business. But another voice now suggests the Cupertino, Calif. tech giant needs iTunes to ensure success. Apple’s $65 billion in cash could go a long way toward that goal.
“Our view is that Apple is unlikely to enter the television set market without a core level of differentiation,” UBS analyst Maynard Un told investors Monday. Differentiation? Thy name is iTunes — and content, Um believes.
This isn’t Um’s first rodeo when it comes to these infectious rumors. After all, who wouldn’t want an Apple widescreen alongside her iMac, right? But getting the content owners to agree on such a plan can be a like doing root canal on yourself. Answer: carpet-bombing with cash.
All that cash Apple has stored away for a good opportunity could “secure a large amount of digital video content from studios or even purchase its own original content for a service similar to Netflix,” argues Um. Netflix went from the mail-in DVD business to a massive streaming-video service without much of a hitch.
If Apple can replicate for TV sets what it’s done with smartphones, the analyst sees a new ecosystem worth a $100 per share bump. “Apple’s core business is undervalued at current levels and see even greater upside from market opportunities such as television sets,” he writes.
Just as Apple sells services to support the iPhone or iPad, the Cupertino, Calif. company could launch the “Genius Squad” to support TV installation. A fee-based version of Apple’s retail “Genius Bar” experts, a “Genius Squad” would help install the complex television systems, writes Um.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
13 responses to “Analyst: Any Apple TV Needs iTunes”
Maynard Un or Um? Spelt both ways above.
I don’t like the idea of the “genius squad” nor do I think it will be necessary for installation. If Apple makes a TV that can’t be pulled out of a box, plugged in and have it just work the first time every time, it isn’t worth getting into the business at all.
It’s also pretty obvious that if they went in to the TV business, it would only be digital. It wouldn’t take disks or TV tuners nor even be able to connect to them. It probably wouldn’t have external speakers either.
I don’t know if this is exactly related to this article, but reading it reminded me of a thought I have had rummaging through my brain — Is there any chance that Apple might be one of the potential suitors for Hulu? Has anyone else advanced that idea before? Wouldn’t such an acquisition help out in the ability of Apple to broaden its Apple TV content? I am just curious as to what anyone else thinks. Thanks :)
Genius squad….. terrible name.
Knowing from experience doing both Genius Bar work and Onsite IT, it would be a bad idea for Apple to get into home services such as TV installation. There’s simply too many variations out there to properly accomplish it. Different receivers, speakers, devices, remotes, etc, and of course the customer will assume you know everything about each of those other devices, and expect you to set it all up with their universal remote.
An Apple TV set I’d be happy to see, but I can’t imagine them attempting house calls anytime soon.
agree about the TV has to be plug and play
But then again, as Um said it is about itunes and content. especially content and you can get that and serve it via the little black box. No need to be in a TV at all. I suppose that Apple could license the box for those that want to imbed it but I don’t really see them doing it themselves
ask yourself this. Why would they want it. They have their itunes services, so why would they want hulu. Will it get them content deals they don’t already have. Will it get them vital tech.
I suspect no and no. They could do a subscription program via the rental files if they wished and the studios would give the deals. But in the end, that’s not the real issue. It’s the stuff that is missing like HBO and Showtime and Starz. Which is also not on Hulu. It’s apps that let you subscribe to those types of nets without having to pay a cable company more money for the privilege to subscribe to them. More sports stuff like the whole MLB.com. That’s the stuff they need. But Hulu isn’t going to help them on that front
The usual idea is that you would use NFC to set up the link between the two devices and then do an automatic hand over to a different protocol for doing the actual transfer of data – eg Bluetooth,iphone 5