Amazon is the biggest content and services provider to offer a television, so we consider why Apple has not created such a product
Apple has made some legendary products, but the products it hasn’t made have their own legends. For every iMac, iPod, and iPhone Apple has produced, there have been rumors of products that could have been. The Apple Glasses, the Apple Car, and first among them: the Apple Television.
Those rumors of an Apple iTV died out years ago, for good reason. A television set is an expensive product to make, and Apple likes to make a lot of money. To earn the same profit it makes on phones and AirPods, it would need to sell a TV that is too expensive for the current market.
Or it would need to use bargain-bin technology to cut prices, the way Amazon did with its Fire TV Omni sets, until recently.
Apple doesn’t need to make a TV set because you can just hook up an Apple TV 4K to the set you own. You can AirPlay from your iPhone 14. You can watch the best Apple TV shows, and play all of your favorite Apple Arcade games, all without an Apple television set. Apple knows the real money isn’t in the TV set, it’s in the services that support it.
If there is a company on board with selling services, it’s Amazon. It’s hard to describe Amazon these days because the Amazon Prime service reaches across so many categories. Amazon is a storefront with an expedited shipping service. It’s also a streaming content service; a music service; a cloud storage service; and a service that can automate and secure your connected home.
Amazon sells speakers, cameras, smart displays, and even a roving robot. Those displays got bigger and bigger until they became full-fledged Fire TV Omni sets. Amazon TVs gained quick popularity because Amazon offers them with no frills other than Amazon services, and the prices are among the lowest you’ll find on a brand you’ve heard of.
Why sell a cheap TV? The Fire TV is a hook to get you into Amazon Prime.
