Apple News, Analysis and Podcasts

We've surveyed Apple retail stores all across America. From small stores in Michigan, to Apple's flagship 5th Avenue store in NY city, and found an alarming amount of retail locations are no longer displaying the Apple TV for demonstration.

The only consistent pattern we found was that within Apple's small stores (30ft-wide locations), none of them carried an Apple TV for demonstration.

Mid-size stores (45ft-wide locations) revealed a mix and match — some stores had Apple TV demos, others did not. We assumed all the large SoHo stores would be displaying Apple TV's, due to their large amount of retail space, but that was not how it played out. Apple's 5th Avenue store in New York city, and the NY SoHo store did not carry Apple TV demo's, while the flagship store in downtown San Francisco did have an Apple TV on display.

Does Apple have a cohesive strategy for Apple TV at the moment? At the minimum Apple's stores do not seem to deliver any consistency, nor does Apple TV seem relevant in their product placement (if it's even placed)...

Secondly, can Apple's hobby make it big-time if Apple itself isn't even promoting their living-room solution, even while some stores have the space to do so? The never ending story of Apple bringing an integrated HDTV seems a logical move, but wouldn't Apple be giving Apple TV a higher level of commitment level if they hope to successfully tackle the home theater market?

2 Comments

1. M ~ February 8, 2011 00:32
   Today's news is that Apple is, by far, the largest seller of downloadable video. A few weeks ago NetFlix announced that appleTV owners download more Netflix video than owners of any other device. Last December Apple said it sold more than a million aTV2s in 12 weeks. Rather than going away another reasonable guess might be that the product will be refreshed soon (say in a few weeks when iPad2 is announced). There have been rumors that the aTV will be upgraded to play 1080p. But both of us are just guessing.
2. Derek Bolander ~ February 8, 2011 02:00
   The retail marketing of AppleTV has notihing to do with Apple's strategy for continuing or discontinuing the product. It was merely removed to make room for the new setup areas and new product launches (iPhone, iPad). Still selling very well.

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