Tim Cook: 13 million Apple TVs sold, half in the last year; 'grand vision' for TV
Speaking at AllThingsD's D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook just dropped the latest sales figure for the Apple TV: 13 million (compare that to Roku's sales of 5 million in the US), with "about half" sold in the last year. Despite being prodded by interviewers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, Cook repeated his "area of great interest" line (again) regarding TV, only mentioning that the company does have a "grand vision" in place. Surprised by the hockey puck's popularity? You're not the only one, as Cook followed up on Steve Jobs' proclamation that" no one wants to buy a box," claiming "Frankly, the popularity of the Apple TV has become much larger than we thought it would. We aren't marketing it."
Last year at the conference he reported sales of 2.7 million Apple TVs for the year, and the company noted 2 million sold in Q1 2013. He also followed his predecessor's stance that the current TV experience needs remodeling "When you look at the TV experience, it's not an experience that I think many people love... still an experience that is too much like 10 or 20 years ago." As usual however, despite the "interest," if you're looking for a hint that Apple is going to join the likes of Google and Microsoft in trying to shift the balance of the TV market, Cook -- like Jobs before him -- is keeping those details to himself.
Follow along with our D11 live blog right here.