Apple TV puts Nintendo on notice, promises more big-screen apps and a new era of casual games
DON’T be fooled by its size. Apple has games consoles, streaming services, and broadcasters in its sights with its small but mighty Apple TV device.
APPLE plans to turn its billion-dollar Apple TV “hobby” into the next generation of entertainment that will shake up the game console market.
In a “monster” set of announcements in San Francisco last week, Apple chief executive Tim Cook unveiled a swag of new products, including the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and an updated iPad Mini.
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But the product that could have the biggest impact on new markets is its revamped Apple TV with Siri voice control, a Bluetooth-powered remote control that can double as a games controller, and support for third-party developers.
From a market point of view, the outlook for the new Apple TV is healthy.
J.P. Morgan analyst Rod Hall predicts Apple will sell 24 million new Apple TV units next year, accounting for more than three per cent of Apple’s yearly earnings.
Outside the bottom line, analysts believe opening up apps on the Apple TV could do for set-top boxes what its App Store did for smartphones.
Jackdaw Research chief analyst Jan Dawson says the Apple TV had enormous potential to bring mobile gaming to the console market.
“It’s going to bring casual gaming that we do on our phones into the living room, making it a more social experience but on a bigger screen,” he says. “That’s a big deal in it’s own right.”
Dawson says the two leading players in the console market — Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation — shouldn’t be worried Apple will claim their turf overnight.
“They are not going to lose hardcore gamers to this. This device doesn’t have the same power,” he says.
“Nintendo certainly should be worried because this is much more in that casual gaming category. It will probably shave some points off the Xbox and PlayStation marketshare but it’s a much bigger threat to Nintendo.”
Another potential impact of the Apple TV will arrive with its app store, Dawson says, and its range of entertainment, news and lifestyle apps.
“No one would have predicted all the apps that have shown up on the iPhone and iPad from the day that that App Store launched,” he says. “So I think you’re going to see a huge amount of creativity from developers.”
Carolina Milanesi, Kantar Worldpanel research chief, sees Apple’s games strategy as a way for Apple to compete with streaming services.
“This is a very smart way for Apple to do what they normally do, which is to hook people on to the device and then get them to do something else,” she says.
Andy Sum from Hipster Whale, the Victorian-based app developer who demonstrated an Apple TV version of his hit game Crossy Road at Apple’s event, sees the opening platform as the start of a new opportunity.
“It’s going to open up a lot of doors,” he says. “Players who haven’t played around this kind of setting — around a big TV — they’re going to be able to try it out for the first time.”
In the demo, Sum showed Crossy Road Apple TV introduces multiplayer mode, allowing players to block each other from crossing roads. Taking the game to the new platform allowed the game to evolve.
“For the developers, it’s going to be great,” Sum says. “The new remote, you’ve got great touch controls there. For our game, it worked really well. There’s going to be a lot of interesting things
you can do with it.”
Rod Chester travelled to San Francisco as a guest of Apple.
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