3. Apple will sort out its TV strategy and figure out how to turn that little black box under your 42″ HD screen into a games and entertainment gateway.

It’s all there: a billing platform, 450 million customer credit card details, the delivery/distribution (although iTunes now feels creakingly old and decrepit), unparalleled publisher relationships, a proven developer eco-system and millions of iPhones and iPads masquerading as controllers; they just need to pull it all together, ideally before Sony and Microsoft start throwing millions of marketing dollars on making their next generation consoles.

Apple’s little black box has so far notched up worldwide sales of 13 million units since it launched back in 2007 – with rumours of around half of those being shipped in the last year or so – not bad for what has so far considered to be a ‘hobby’ project.

Things are about to change however, with Apple CEO Tim Cook recently confirming that his company has a ‘grand vision’ for the TV space [1]. The general consensus is that the firm will concentrate its efforts on delivering profitable apps and services via the existing iOS-powered Apple TV box, rather than risk taking on the likes of Samsung and Sony by launching big and expensive HD TVs (although many would surely pay through the nose just to have an Apple screen hanging on their walls).

Partnering with selected manufacturers to include the Apple TV hardware/software inside and make a land grab for SmartTV platform OS also remains a low-risk option, although does Apple really need to do that to increase market share right now? It’s not like the Apple TV has ever received any marketing dollars, with most sales coming via ‘word of mouth’ and recommendation; its a good service, its cheap and it just works.

It’s worth noting that Apple TV currently has just a handful of apps – opening this platform up for developers would undoubtedly be a smart move in terms of boosting market share and increasing revenue; after all, as with any platform (see Nintendo) its always all about the content.

How people consume TV is changing very quickly, with services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon’s LoveFilm and Tesco’s Blinkbox all finding strong traction with customers fed up with waiting for days for the next episode of their favourite TV shows and becoming increasingly disgruntled about obtrusive advertising and sponsorship [2]. Don’t bet against Spotify looking beyond its streaming music service either. Maybe the newly announced iTunes Radio is just the start for Apple?

One thing is for sure, the latent potential inside that inexpensive little black box of tricks is huge – and it’s just a question of when and how much, not why.

[1] http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/28/13-million-apple-tv-d11/

[2] http://www.techradar.com/news/television/16-best-tv-streaming-services-1044010

[3] http://www.anandtech.com/show/6834/apple-tv-2013-a1469-short-review-analysis-of-a-new-a5