Apple TV is still a hobby. The word comes from Apple’s Chief, Tim Cook who nevertheless championed the company’s current offering. He stated that Apple sold more than 2.8 million Apple TV units last fiscal year with 1.4 million moved within Q1 2012 (a new record for the device).
“Our Apple TV product is doing quite well… but in the scheme of things, we still classify Apple TV as a hobby. We continue to add things to it. If you’re using the latest one — I don’t know about you, but I can’t live without it. Other than that, no comment.” said Cook.
Apple HDTV speculation has run wild the last few years. It’s been said that the late Steve Jobs wanted a proper Apple TV but HDTVs have notoriously low-margin devices — Apple doesn’t make products they can’t make money on. That said, connected TVs seem to be the next big thing in the consumer space. Samsung made a huge splash at CES 2012 with their 4th generation platform. Previous Apple HDTV rumors place Apple launching two models sometime in the middle of 2012. But, as of right now, it’s still a hobby.