As rumors of a new Apple TV fly, Roku founder and CEO Anthony Wood says the set-top box, which he termed as “an accessory for the iPad,” loses money for Apple, and he just doesn’t understand why Apple would want to sell more.
“Apple TV is essentially an accessory for the iPad. They lose money, which is unusual for Apple,” he said Thursday, speaking at the Recode conference here. “If you’re losing money, why would you want to sell more?” (Via CNET)
He added that his comments about Apple’s “hobby” were purely speculative. (It is believed that Apple basically breaks even on the Apple TV.)
Apple CEO Tim Cook noted earlier this month that the Apple TV, including revenue from selling the hardware and from selling content on it, brought in $1 billion in sales in 2013.
Wood also commented on Amazon’s upcoming set-top box – which likely debuts next month – and about overall competition in the set-top media box market:
“Every year about this time, the Amazon box comes up that they’re about to launch. And the new Apple TV is about to launch … We’ve been competing with Apple TV for six years now, and every year, we’ve grown,” Wood told Kafka. ”We’re in the TV platform business. Our goal is to be the operating system for TV.” (Via MacRumors)
Wood noted that on the day Apple launched its $99 Apple TV box, Roku sales doubled. (Perhaps because uninformed consumers bought the wrong little black box? -Ed.)
