Comcast Corp. is in reported talks with Walmart to develop a line of smart TV sets using Comcast proprietary technology, its Xfinity X1 operating system.
This would be a step above independently owned CTV services carried on TV manufacturers’ proprietary smart TV operating systems -- Roku, Amazon Fire, for example -- in Samsung, Vizio, LG, and Sony TV sets.
Apple's main focus is elsewhere.
While it has started its own Apple TV streaming programming platform, it still has heart -- and expectations -- wrapped around its new 5G iPhone 12.
Apple had considered the idea of an actual TV manufacturer some years ago. But we now know the economic premise -- in light of how Apple sells its high-profile iPhones -- would be limited. It wants returning customers to buy new phones every few years. That isn't the case with TV sets.
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Perhaps that is why Apple continues to offer its own modest Apple TV set-top OTT unit -- a la Roku and Amazon Fire. This effort comes at a much lower consumer cost ($169 for Apple TV 4K at Walmart, currently) rather pushing consumers to spend $800 to $1,000 on a new TV set every few years.
Still, at some point, an all-encompassing TV set -- with the simple Apple packaging -- is what many Apple devotees would love.
A Comcast/Walmart brand? That’s undermined. We aren't sure how much total marketing/manufacturing effort is behind this.
We also don’t know if this will be a lower-end priced electronic device -- akin to what some Google Chromebooks can be for hard-press students. A way to get stuff done without all the bells and whistles.
The bottom line: Comcast/Walmart would continue to declutter all those extra set-top electronic units sitting in our living rooms -- a cleaner look at a home-entertainment experience.
The data works in favor of such moves.
Now, as of Q3, 56% of U.S. broadband households own and use at least one smart TV, with 43% of U.S. broadband households owning and using a streaming media player,
according to Parks Associates.
In other words, taking limited-risk smart steps -- vis-a-vis growing smart TV usage -- continues.