As rumors of a "real" Apple TV heat up, ideas that could upend the industry resurface
Photo: Michael Copeland
In late 2009, the Wall Street Journal ran a story that sent shivers through the television industry.
Quoting unnamed sources familiar with Apple's (AAPL) negotiations, the Journal reported that CBS (CBS) and ABC (DIS) were seriously considering Steve Jobs' plan to offer TV subscriptions over the Internet.
One form those subscriptions might take, according to these sources, was a $30-per-month package of advertising-free shows from a bundle of top cable and broadcast networks -- something Apple was calling the "best of television."
Although the Journal reported that Apple was hoping to launch the service in 2010, it met fierce resistance, particularly from cable companies that reap tens of billions each year in advertising dollars and in the fees subscribers pay for access to channels they don't want in order to watch the handful of shows they do.
"You don't want to shoot a hole in the bucket to create another revenue stream," one media executive told the Journal at the time.
Apple's TV subscription service did not launch in 2010, obviously. Or in 2011, for that matter.
But the idea has not gone away. In a note to clients issued Wednesday, Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu noted that what's missing from Apple's current TV offering -- Apple TV coupled with the content available for purchase on iTunes -- is access to live broadcast television.
One way to get that access, he writes, is to have users subscribe to satellite or cable TV services, the way they do now.
But another way -- in his words "a more revolutionary, disruptive and differentiated way" -- would be to offer the content via the Internet, in a subscription service that sounds a lot like Jobs' original "best of television" idea.
"We continue to hear," Wu writes, "what AAPL would love to do is offer users the ability to choose their own customized programming, i.e., whichever channels/shows they want for a monthly subscription fee. This is obviously much more complicated from a licensing standpoint. And in our view, would change the game for television and give AAPL a big leg-up against the competition."
Sterne Agee's Apple analyst sees lots of room for growth in PCs and mobile phones
In a note to clients issued Wednesday, Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu makes the case that Apple's (AAPL) shares, still down 8% from their recent highs, are a "compelling" buy. He offers four reasons:
"As much success as AAPL has had," he writes, "the company has only 4%-5% share in mobile phones and 4%-5% in PCs (12%-13% including MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 10, 2011 7:56 AM ET
Exploring the mysteries of what the analysts call "multiple compression"
When Apple's (AAPL) shares responded to the news out of the company's developers conference by closing the week at $325.90 -- their lowest level since last December -- I thought I'd take a look at how last Friday's stock price compared with the 12-month price targets Wall Street's analysts posted exactly one year earlier, after the conference that introduced the iPhone MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jun 14, 2011 11:02 AM ET
Shipments are reported to be approaching 3-4 million/month as production constraints ease
Photo: Apple Inc.
Following a mid second-quarter check with his sources in Apple's (AAPL) supply chain, Sterne Agee's Shaw Wu raised his unit sales estimates Friday as well as his price target: to $460 to $445. The stock, which has been impervious to the enthusiasms of sell-side analysts lately, closed Thursday at $340.53.
Among the highlights of the new report:
The MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - May 20, 2011 8:27 AM ET
With Q2 earnings due next week, the two groups of analysts are once again miles apart
Click to enlarge. Source: Alexis W. Cabot
The amateur analysts who follow Apple (AAPL) can afford to be more bullish than the professionals who do it for banks and brokerage houses. After all, unlike the sell-side analysts who are telling investors to buy the stock, they don't have clients who will be angry if the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Apr 14, 2011 11:08 AM ET
Steve Jobs' latest iteration of the set-top box gets mixed-positive reviews on Wall Street
Photo: Apple Inc.
Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster:
We see the new Apple TV as a meaningful change in Apple's efforts in the digital living room. The addition of new content, such as Netflix, in combination with the $99 price (down from $229), will drive higher unit volumes compared to the the previous version of MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 2, 2010 12:49 PM ET
Is the device that was once Apple's best-selling iPod about to join the iPhone family?
Images: iLounge, MacRumors
There's been a lot of speculation about what a re-designed iPod nano might look like in the wake of a note issued Thursday by Kaufman Bros.' Shaw Wu, but what about the software that runs it?
Wu's sources in Apple's (AAPL) supply chain turned up plans to buy components for a smaller-size nano MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 27, 2010 6:40 AM ET
"Important details still being ironed out," writes analyst. Could T-Mobile and Sprint be next?
Apple (AAPL) needs another carrier to maintain the iPhone's current rate of growth in the U.S., says Kaufman Bros.'s Shaw Wu in a note to clients Monday, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Verizon (VZ).
According to Wu, Apple's share of AT&T's (T) 90-million subscriber base is approaching saturation. Verizon, with 93 million subscribers, would be the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 23, 2010 9:05 AM ET
Apple engineers are reported to be "furiously working" on a Death Grip software fix
Two reports issued in advance of Apple's (AAPL) scheduled 10 a.m. PT press conference offer hope of a software fix for what has been widely assumed to be a hardware flaw in the iPhone 4's antenna design.
The first comes from Michael Helft in Friday's New York Times, who quotes an Apple source "not authorized to discuss the MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jul 16, 2010 10:21 AM ET
Not that big a deal, is their consensus. The market, naturally, ignores them.
On Monday, Consumer Reports decided it couldn't recommend the iPhone 4. On Tuesday and Wednesday, analysts who track Apple (AAPL) offered clients their take on what it means for the company.
Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty saw it as a "PR problem that Apple needs to address to preserve the brand and loyal customer base." Kaufman Bros.' Shaw Wu MORE
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