Heard any good Apple television set rumors lately? It’s been a few months since Brightcove's own Jeremy Allaire made waves with his prediction that the consumer electronics giant’s foray into TV set manufacturing would be more ripple than splash.
If Apple were to release a connected TV, it would very likely create a major disruption in the consumer electronics and entertainment landscape according to a new report from Quixel Research and TFCInfo. Of the 1,169 current and potential flat-panel TV owners surveyed nationwide, 80 percent of current flat-panel owners said they’d be “either extremely, very or somewhat interested” in buying an Apple television. That’s assuming the set stays true to Apple’s reputation for “advanced design, innovative features, simple interface, convenient usability and easy connectivity to other Apple devices.”
Qixel says its study shows that consumers want to seamlessly connect home entertainment products with mobile devices and a variety of content services while getting more out of their televisions. Qixel president Tamaryn Pratt says, “Despite thousands of available apps, digital content is only being streamed by 50 percent of these owners on a daily or weekly basis.” The disruptive effects of a new Apple television set on the entertainment industry, notes Pratt, could be on par with those the company created in the computer, music, mobile phone, tablet, publishing, and retail industries.
The study, “The Projected Impact of Apple iTV and Other Connected Devices on Consumer Entertainment,” revealed several other interesting findings:
- Apple device owners are more interested than others in buying TVs with wireless web access, cloud storage, and the ability to sync to other devices.
- Nearly 80 percent of respondents are already using a “second screen” while watching TV.
- Almost a quarter (23 percent) of respondents are moving content from a second screen to their TV on a daily basis.
These findings resonate with Allaire’s blog post from earlier this year, in which he predicted that Apple’s television product will be more of a re-conceptualization of TV that leverages its AirPlay wireless technology to allow users to “beam” content to their TV sets from their iPad or iPhone. Taken further, the concept ultimately turns an iPad or iPhone into a powerful apps platform to support dual screen or mirrored viewing experiences.
Given the findings of the study, which indicate a consumer appetite for more synchronized content experiences across devices, coupled with Allaire’s hypothesis, it stands to reason that a re-conceptualized Apple television product could show up from Cupertino before we see a brand new, full-fledged Apple TV set. The new concept, however, could still prove to be a disruptive force in how we produce and consume content.