Apple’s deals with Samsung and other TV makers shows Apple TV can’t keep pace with its rivals

“[Last] week, Samsung said that its 2019 smart TVs would come with the ability to buy and rent movies and television shows from Apple’s iTunes, as well as stream previous content purchased on iTunes,” Chris Neiger writes for The Motley Fool. “But Apple investors should note two key things from the latest partnership between the rivals: The first is that Apple is essentially acknowledging that its Apple TV box can’t keep pace with its competitors. And second, Apple is dead serious about being a services company.”
“Apple trails Roku and Amazon in the streaming device market, with Roku far ahead of everyone else at 37% and Amazon taking 28%, according to the latest data (from the first quarter 2018) from Parks Associates, an Internet of Things market research firm,” Neiger writes. “Meanwhile, Apple holds just 15% of the market.”
MacDailyNews Take: Once again, we pause to explain that which 15% of the market you hold makes all the difference. If 85% of the market only streams stuff that’s free and you own the 15% that pays for content, you’re winning, not losing. Apple doesn’t play the market share for market share’s sake game. Apple plays the premium customer domination game. Apple sells to the people worth selling to.
“If Apple does launch a content streaming service soon, it’s not going to win in the market simply because the service works on Samsung TVs,” Neiger writes. “It’s likely the Samsung partnership is just an initial test toward adding the iTunes service on another company’s device. Apple will likely have to work with more companies, and possibly even Roku, when its streaming service launches.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It all depends on how (and if) Apple plans on charging for their original content. People who buy the cheapest streaming devices naturally tend to the the last streaming device owners who’ll pay for content.
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