AppleInsider Staff
In an interview at the D11 conference on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that the company has sold over 13 million Apple TVs to date, nearly half of which were sold last year alone.
Speaking with AllThingsD's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Cook noted that Apple was selling only "a few hundred thousand" Apple TVs per year when it first launched, but added that sales have recently jumped exponentially to roughly 6 million in the 2012 calendar year.
"That business has found many many more customers," Cook said. "I think it's been great both for customers and very good from a learning point of view for Apple. I think many of us would agree that there's lots of things about the TV experience that can be better. We answered some of those, not all of those."
When pressed further about his previous comments on a possible Apple-branded standalone television or other device, Cook expectedly declined to go into detail. He did reiterate that TV is "a great area of interest for [Apple]," and noted the relationships created from working on Apple TV have offered perspective on the industry.
"And the popularity has been larger than we thought," Cook said. "We're not marketing it like we do our other products. So it's encouraging."
Not much was discussed in the way of future plans, or even possible deals with content owners, but the executive did reiterate his belief that the current television experience leaves much to be desired.
In an effort to pry some color on Apple's TV plans from Cook, Swisher took a final stab by questioning the solidity of Apple's vision for the TV moving forward.
"There is a grand vision," Cook replied.
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68 Comments
Finally, some real AppleTV numbers.
Not bad for a "hobby" that has near zero marketing, and is not widely understood. Also, this is all I needed to hear: "It's not an experience that has been brought up to this decade, Cook said. I don't want to go any further on this because I don't want to give anybody any ideas. [B]There is a very grand vision."[/B] Cook has stated several times now that Apple is working on "game-changing" things, which is pretty damn exciting.
"I think it's been great both for customers and very good from a learning point of view for Apple."
I think its great for customers too. Thanks to both the AppleTV and Airplay, I severed ties with my cable company. Can't beat that.
Apple TV is the best av tool since the DVD and more. I look forward to see what the next generation brings.
It would be interesting to understand why they don't market it. I was in the Apple store yesterday and there was just one in the corner with a TV on a table. People who have it really like it and it ties you more into the Apple ecosystem. What about a few commercials or a better demo in the stores? What about a promotion where it is $50 with purchase of select other Apple products? My only possible guess is that they don't want too many messages out there or perhaps they want to do big marketing when the have their bigger solution and don't want to confuse the market by overly defining Apple TV now.