• Information Week, Tuesday, March 20, 2007 10:30 AM

When it comes to Apple, it's all about cachet, which is precisely why a new ThinkEquity Partners report says Apple TV, the company's latest consumer electronics offering, has the potential to make big waves. Given the user loyalty Apple commands, the forthcoming wireless set-top box (which is expected to ship any day now) could be scooped up by as many as 70% of the company's 22 million Mac users over the next five years, according to ThinkEquity analyst Jonathan Hoopes.

That's optimistic, but even so, Hoopes believes that at least 25% of Mac users will purchase Apple TV, which would still be enough to eclipse the subscriber base of DVR maker TiVo (4.4 million) and the DVD mail service Netflix (8.8 million).

It's a bullish forecast, given that all Apple TV does is bring the iTunes media store to the living room--although you can be sure Apple is planning additional services. In his report, Hoopes said Apple TV could add more than $10 billion to Apple's market cap in the next few years: "We think the AppleTV/iTunes combination could become as disruptive to legacy video purchase-and-consumption behavior as the iPod/iTunes combination has been to the traditional music business model."

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