Apple expects sales of its second generation Apple TV to top a million units before the end of the week. The diminutive home entertainment appliance went on sale at the end of September and has been met with high consumer interest.
Apple TV is an iOS-based device that lets users stream movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store along with music and video from Macs and PCs, and stream content from Netflix, YouTube, MobileMe and Flickr. Unlike the original Apple TV, the new model uses flash RAM instead of an internal hard drive, and it doesn’t offer any built-in storage for media.
Apple’s second gen Apple TV
According to Apple, iTunes Store customers are renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV shows and over 150,000 movies per day. Presumably a substantial number of those videos are streaming to a new Apple TV.
In early October, JMP Research analyst Alex Gauna estimated Apple would sell about a million Apple TV units a quarter, which looks to be just about right. At the time, he said the device was “resonating with customers.”
The second generation Apple TV sells for US$99.