Yes, the Apple TV Has Sold 1 Million Units

If anyone was looking for confirmation whether Apple’s Tuesday announcement had materialized, the company has confirmed that its second-generation “hobby” has, indeed, sold 1 million units.

On December 21, the company put out a press release informing the world that it was expecting to reach achieve the milestone momentarily.

Apple actually said it expected sales of its new Apple TV to surpass one million units later that week. The company’s official statement is reproduced below:

CUPERTINO, California—December 21, 2010—Apple® today announced that it expects sales of its new Apple TV® to top one million units later this week. The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe℠, all on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. iTunes® users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.

Now, All Things D’s John Paczkowski confirms that Apple has reached the 1 million figure.

The blogger acknowledges that Apple’s Tuesday announcement has materialized with the company confirming to him that the set-top box had reached 1 million units sold before Christmas.

It is believed that the addition of AirPlay support for wireless streaming, and iOS integration are two elements that played a major role in achieving this feat.

Recently introduced in iOS 4.2, Airplay allows users to wirelessly stream their music, video and photos from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to the second-generation Apple TV.

Users can also control Apple TV with their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch using the Remote app, which Apple offers as a free download on the App Store.

The $99 price tag is also regarded as a huge plus, and an aggressive move on behalf of the company, considering the Apple TV is, after all, an Apple product.

Anyone will agree that Apple’s TV-centric product has done quite well for what it is - namely, a mere “hobby,” as the Cupertino giant has said on several occasions.