• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, September 13, 2021

Instead, Apple continues to make improvements to its set-top-box Apple TV device (now fifth generation) and its revenue-growing services, including iCloud, Apple Music, and Apple Podcasts.

It also keeps its eye on the ball on money-producing devices: iPhones, Apple AirPods Pro, Apple Watches and iPad.

It seems Apple is looking to the future with bigger-ticket items -- not $500 or $1,000 TV sets but $30,000 to $40,000 self-driving vehicles.

Increasingly, automobiles are moving to a place where analysts view those products as “computers” on wheels, especially as cars and the industry move toward full electric, battery-powered vehicles.

Raising this profile even further -- but perhaps not exactly in a good way -- is the semiconductor chip shortage, which has severely slowed down automobile sales.

When it comes to Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV set-top boxes, consider rising efforts around incorporating all smart TV interface platform functions inside the TV box. The marketplace has spoken: Fewer extra “boxes” next to TV sets is becoming the goal.

Amazon isn’t the first to jump in here. Competitor Roku has had its brand name on TV sets since 2014, when it struck a co-branding deal in placing its “platform” on TCL-manufactured smart TV sets.

So it's worth repeating: What is Apple future plan -- in TV?

Coming up in a few days for the company’s annual  fall product/service announcement, we expect future Apple TV device updates, as well from its streamer, Apple TV+.

Will that be enough to keep Apple customers coming back to its vision of where the TV industry is going?