Why Hasn't Apple Released A New Apple TV?

Apple Inc. AAPL continues to receive new software updates for Apple TV, bringing new content to the Mac maker's set-top box.

Unlike the iPad, iPhone, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Apple does not upgrade Apple TV on an annual basis. In fact, the device has not been updated since March 2012.

This isn't entirely unusual -- there was a three-year gap between the first- and second-generation Apple TV units. However, several set-top boxes and HDMI sticks have now been released. Some of them are faster, more powerful and contain features not found in Apple TV.

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“The whole battle for rights and the role of the TV and the connected home and that sort of thing is still being defined,” Dan Miller, senior analyst and founder of Opus Research, told Benzinga. “What goes on in the home is going to be content-driven. There's no need to upgrade the hardware at this point unless things sort out.”

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Hit Or Miss?

Apple has sold more than 20 million Apple TV units, but it lost market share to a couple of newcomers in 2014.

Roku is still the leader with 29 percent of the U.S. streaming device market, followed by Chromecast with 20 percent. Apple fell to third place, but still managed to command 17 percent of the market.

Fire TV, the first set-top box from Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, earned 10 percent of the market during the first three quarters of 2014. Amazon achieved this status even though Fire TV was not available during the March quarter.

“Companies have hits and misses,” tech industry expert and analyst Jeff Kagan told Benzinga. “We've been talking about Apple TV for years. We thought it would have taken over the landscape for years. But it didn't.”

Kagan wonders why Apple has continued down the same path for its set-top box.

“It's lost my attention,” he added. “I don't really pay attention to it anymore. I don't think the customer does either. It's not a typical Apple success story.”

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Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.

Image credit: bfishadow, Flickr