Apple TV has lost some of its popularity in the US, a new report from Parks Associates reveals. While it is still among the popular media-streaming devices in the country, in 2014, the newly introduced Fire TV and Fire TV Stick turned out to be slightly more popular than the “old” Apple set-top box.
Roku still rocks the media-streaming device space, grabbing 34% of all units sold, followed by Google Chromecast, which accounted for 23% of all sales. As it turns out, the Amazon Fire TV made waves last year, surpassing Apple TV, which ranked third in 2013, before Amazon stepped into the market.
As Parks Associates points out in its annual report, combined, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Roku control 86% of all media-streaming device sales in the US. The report estimates that 86 million media-streaming devices will be sold globally by 2019.
According to its latest data, almost 20% of US broadband households own at least one media-streaming player; 8% own at least one streaming stick such as Google’s Chromecast, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick, or Roku’s HDMI Streaming Stick; and 2% own both.
A refresh of the Apple TV set-top box is long overdue. Rumour has it that we will see a new one unveiled next month, and it will feature Siri integration, a fresh design, possibly a new operating system, more storage, and a touch-based remote.
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well…………why would you buy one prior to a rumoured refresh?…
Because the general public doesn’t follow release cycles.
Also, this is a chart about streaming trends, not new purchases. So if people did know about an imminent refresh, that would mean they decided to switch to another platform because a refresh isn’t out yet.
There are also rumors of the refresh being delayed until 2016, so you may be waiting for nothing. Also ATV 3 can be have for cheap, selling as low as $69 on sale.
ATV3 might be cheap but why buy dated technology? I’d rather put that $69 towards the latest tech that way I’m not having to upgrade anytime soon.
Thanks Captain Obvious!
The current Apple TV works great for my needs! Now given my past apple experiences, the key will be to not update the software any further or it will be automagically made unbearably slow 😉
Some time I laugh on myself….As I own three of them and also use all of them as all offer unique functionality..
Apple TV: iOS/OSX mirroring and Air play
Roku: Plug in headphones in the remote for private listening of Netflix/Youtube mainly
Chromecast: To Cast Chrome browser tabs easily(yes much easier than Air play). As it streams directly from the main stream, I found the quality to be much more clearer.
Waiting for New Apple TV in hope that it combine one of these functionality.
I’ve had the Apple TV, it was meh… The Roku on the other hand is a much, much better device. I have a HTPC set up with Plex and can stream directly to my ROKU. I have used mirroring from my macbook to the apple tv, but the lag makes it unusable (for movies).