[scarface74]

Why else would Google be producing hardware and selling it so cheaply if not to monetize usage data? Is there any world where the thin if any profit margin on Chromecast like devices are worth the revenue for a company the size of Google?

Roku - the leading company in the space - made $1.19 billion in revenue. I doubt anyone thinks that Google will approach Roku’s market share.

Roku is all about obtrusive advertising. Why would Google be any different? Do you think Google put a hard coded Netflix button on the remote out of the goodness of their heart?

> Google has a more trustworthy image than Apple! Imagine that

By what metric?

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/11/amazon-beats-apple-and-googl...

[shajznnckfke]

Apple has sold tens of millions of Apple TVs. Apple doesn’t break out the revenue in their earnings reports but they have definitely made billions in revenue from the business. With that large install base, Apple has growing power to promote services in the video streaming market which is worth hundreds of billions. The more power Apple has here, the greater their ability to extract a cut from streaming service revenue as platform owner. This is relevant to Google as a player in the video streaming market, who also owns platforms that compete with Apple’s. It would be stupid for Google to not put up a fight in this market.

[scarface74]

Tens of millions?

No one thinks that Apple has sold tens of millions of TVs.

https://macdailynews.com/2020/09/02/strategy-analytics-apple...

The global population of TV and video streaming devices has now exceeded 1.1 billion, with Apple TV / tvOS holding 2% share, according to the latest market share analysis from Strategy Analytics’ TV Streaming Platforms service.

And this is from MacdailyNews. Definitely not an anti Apple rag. Apple has been calling the AppleTV a “hobby” for over a decade.

There is a reason that Apple is making deals left and right to get AppleTV (the app) on competing platforms and now they are making deals with Roku to support Airplay.

[shajznnckfke]

Doing the math on your numbers, 2% of 1.1 billion is 22 million, which is tens of millions. The 1.1 billion appears to include TVs with included “smart TV” software, which explains why it’s such a huge number.

Back in 2015 Apple said they had already sold 25 million: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theverge.com/platform/amp/2...

Anecdotally they’re common in households where people have iPhones. IMO, they currently have the best user experience to control a TV.

[scarface74]

25 million is nothing. Apple sells close to 200 million phones a year. 25 million over a lifetime is minuscule.

Besides that, Apple talked about how hard it is to be “HDMI 1”. Especially now that all of the TVs have “smarts” and most people still have cable. Not to mention that an Apple TV is $149-$200. I have two ATV4Ks that were both free when AT&T was doing their deal. We don’t even use it on one of our TVs that have Roku built in.

Besides that, sales before 2015 are almost irrelevant. That was before it had an App Store. A lot of the new streaming services don’t even support it. Roku wasn’t being integrated into low end TVs left and right.

There is no better experience for most people than a TV with Roku built in. One remote controls everything.

[shajznnckfke]

I’ve found that the built-in smart TVs, including Roku, have a laggy and frustrating experience compared to Apple TV. Also, most smart TV software stops working entirely after a while.

[scarface74]

I’m not saying it’s better. I’m saying it’s good enough that most people aren’t going to drop an extra $150-$199 for an AppleTV4K.

AFAIK, every TV with integrated Roku support is still getting updated.

Even if that’s not the case, you can pick up a Roku stick from Walmart for $30. That’s not to even mention game consoles.