14 DAY TRIAL // Pretty much every technology analyst is waiting on the edge of his seat for Apple’s unveiling of a revolutionary full-fledged television set. Not Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente.
The media analyst is not convinced Tim Cook can persuade content providers to switch from the current deals and invest in the Apple TV.
He believes the Cupertino giant has great potential for the living-room with a giant iPad, but not with a product mainly geared at television programs.
The reason is simple: “the ‘affiliate fees’ that cable providers pay for the bundles are now up to $30 billion a year, or about $30 per subscriber per month. And programmers aren’t going to do anything that weakens that revenue stream,” according to All Things D citing the analyst.
DiClemente is more inclined to believe Apple’s TV product will be geared towards gaming, as well as running all types of apps that make sense on the big screen. The Internet will also play a big role in Apple’s revolutionary TV set. Cable TV, however, won’t.
“[It will be] so much more than a TV — including gaming, video communication, content delivery, apps, computing and all the capabilities of the current Apple TV,” he said.
He thinks the device will use Apple’s Siri voice control as a “groundbreaking interface,” and that it would sell for $1,500. DiClemente says this product is not by far close to its release, according to his estimates.
Indeed, Apple hasn’t had any luck getting content providers to sign deals for potential distribution on an Apple-branded TV set.
As DiClemente himself explains, these companies wouldn’t be doing themselves a great favor by choosing to switch from an existing business model that has worked for decades. In fact, there’s an old saying that applies here: "if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it."
Apple knows this; the cable providers know this; plus, there’s other fish in the sea, and it’s high-time Apple did something about it.