Reports indicate Apple has acquired Matcha.tv, a startup in the business of offering media guide services for video streaming feeds. Match.tv ships as an iOS app that aggregates content from Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon Prime and others. Not a huge move by Apple, but significant in fuelling further speculation about its plans in the TV space.
A September launch event from Apple seems highly likely, with many sources pointing to September 10th as the date. The most likely candidates for announcements here are the iPhone, iPad and MacBook families, with an outside chance of something totally new. As for TV, this acquisition probably comes a little late for anything substantial in September, but Apple may yet have something up its sleeve to surprise us.
What could this mean? Despite fevered speculation from many, not least Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, Apple has not launched a full TV as yet, and it seems increasingly unlikely that it will. The TV market is brutal, characterized by low margins and slow upgrade cycles, averaging 8 years. Neither of these would seem tempting to Apple.
Yet the AppleTV has been something of a sleeper success. The little box that delivers films and TV programmes from iTunes and others, and hooks iPhones and iPads to the TV through AirPlay, has carved a sizeable niche for itself. Tim Cook indicated in May 2013 that the company had sold around 13M AppleTVs, about half of these in the past year. This is a significant installed base, and one that Apple surely has plans for.
The most likely scenario would seem to be that Apple opens up the AppleTV to app developers in the same way that they did for the iPhone and iPad. AppleTV also runs iOS, so there would seem little technically to prevent Apple doing this. It is likely that the majority of existing apps could then be run on AppleTV, though clearly some would be more appropriate than others for this different screen size and environment.
Perhaps most significant would be the immediate availability of iOS games – a move that could instantly threaten the console market, particularly with Apple’s upcoming support for game controllers in iOS 7. Once opened up, we would then expect a rash of apps specifically written or adapted for the TV format.
More interestingly could be the impact such a move would have on content. Apple’s App Store disrupted the traditional software market not only by making boxed software obsolete, but also by opening a route to market for the small developer, who no longer needed to find a publisher prepared to package, promote and distribute its products.
Could Apple be seeking to achieve the same with TV, offering a route to market for TV production companies without their needing to rely on larger media groups? If so, can Apple achieve this while retaining their relationship with these major labels?or this different screen size and environment.
Perhaps most significant would be the immediate availability of iOS games – a move that could instantly threaten the console market, particularly with Apple’s upcoming support for game controllers in iOS 7. Once opened up, we would then expect a rash of apps specifically written or adapted for the TV format.
In reality, such announcements are more likely to take place during Apple’s WW Developer Conference, so expectations for September are low. However it remains a possibility that the intersection of AppleTV success, iOS 7 and the App Store could see something surprising from Apple, again.
Go Apple TV
Go iOS 7
