Entrepreneur and media mogul Mark Cuban doesn’t see an actual Apple television ever hitting the market. But the founder of HDNet does think the company will be major a player in the set-top box field.
Cuban, who also stars in ABC’s popular “Shark Tank,” doesn’t believe that Apple needs to develop a real television to influence the market. Instead, a set-top box would do the trick. And if this happens, he believes that current boxes like Xbox, Roku, TiVo, and Boxee could be in real trouble.
Cuban says, “I don’t think there is any doubt that if Apple released a set-top box that supported authentication for multichannel video programming distributors (like cable and satellite companies), it would be a huge success.”
Out of all the current boxes, Cuban sees Microsoft as best set to take on Apple in the battle of the living room.
He says of Xbox:
Right now, yes. Xbox has done a great job of integrating TV into its consoles. It works and works well. The challenge will be whether or not they look to make it a price-competitive set-top box that can be ubiquitous or stick with their current gaming-driven market. It wouldn’t shock me if Microsoft is waiting to see what Apple does and will try to do a better job of it.
What’s your opinion readers? Do you agree with Cuban that Apple could release a set-top box and dominate the living room? Is Microsoft’s Xbox 360 a competitive option? Tell us in the comments section below.
