Apple TV sales up 170%

US technology giant Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV set-top boxes in the three months to June 30, a leap of 170% year-on-year.

Tim Cook

The numbers came as Apple reported a third-quarter profit of US$8.8bn, which came in under some analysts’ predictions.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors on a conference call that four million Apple TV units had been shifted so far this year in total, and called the figure “pretty incredible.”

“It’s still at a level that we would call it a hobby. But we continue to pull the string to see where it takes us. We’re not one to keep around projects that we don’t believe in, so there are a lot of people here that are believers in Apple TV and we continue to invest in it and see where it will take us,” he added.

The figure follows reports Apple is planning to launch a streaming TV service by Christmas, though content providers are said to be concerned how Apple would control and price it.