Apple TV Hobby Jumps 60% to 2 Million Units

Apple TVApple's hobby is getting more serious, as the company reported on Friday that it sold 2 million units during the December quarter, an increase of 60 percent year-over-year. Apple sold 1.4 million Apple TVs in the year ago Christmas quarter, and that was with an extra 14th week of sales compared to this year's quarter.

For those keeping score at home, Apple's hobby has officially crossed the half a billion dollar-per-year mark, making it the kind of hobby that most companies would kill for.

The news came during a conference call with analysts. Apple doesn't typically break out numbers for individual products, but CEO Tim Cook did specify the 2 million number during the call. He also reiterated his stance that the TV industry remained "an area of intense interest" for Apple, and that, "there is a lot that Apple can contribute to this space."

This is a position he has laid out in earlier interviews, including one interview that we interpreted as an effort to put the industry on notice that Apple was planning to disrupt it in the near future. He offered no additional details, however, and though asked by one analyst about the subject, declined to say exactly what Apple has in mind.

We should also note that questions about the TV market were overshadowed by questions about iPhone sales, whether or not Apple would introduce a cheap iPhone to compete at the low end, CFO Peter Oppenheimer's promise to stop sandbagging his guidance, and to a lesser extent, the problem with Mac sales.

This is in stark contrast for much of the last 18 months, when questions about Apple's plans for the TV market were a major area of focus for analysts.

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a tiny, almost insignificant share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.