This month (according to those at Apple) or next month (if we were to believe rumors), Apple TVs will hit the stands. Not as far as controversial as the iPhone, Apple's new device, the Apple TV, is set to be a success.

Apple has begun taking pre-orders since the MacWorld Expo in January. All month, rumors talked about the Apple TV shippings being delayed, but the Cupertino-based company never admitted this were true; so Apple TV's first customers are expecting their device sometime before the end of February.

The Apple TV will bring the company lots of money, according to Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore. He thinks Apple TV will take over between 20 and 30 percent of the DVD market in just a few years, bringing Apple billions of dollars.

Apple would benefit at first from the 40 million iTunes customers, but will then move into the manufacturing business of developing DVD and CD players, forecasts the analyst. He predicts sales of 2 million units for this year alone.

The iTunes movie database is not exactly huge at the moment, but Apple has already signed deals with Paramount and Lions Gate and, considering the size of the iTunes phenomena, more companies are likely to join soon.

Apple TV is a set-top box that enables digital content to be streamed from any machine running Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows capable of running streamed media via iTunes to an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV. The Apple TV will sell for $299.

I think the Deutsche Bank analyst is perhaps a little too enthusiastic and the 30 percents he estimated are way too much. It's true the Apple TV will be a success, but it will not be as unrealistically-well received as the analyst predicts. Time will tell, but it will take much more than a couple of years for people to let go of CDs and DVD. People still can't completely manage their VCRs, let alone a device like the Apple TV.