Smart TVs Are Set To Completely Dominate The Market By 2017
Citing its own paid report, Business Insider says there will be around 25 million million smart TVs in American households by the end of 2016. While that seems a bit high, consumers are replacing their TVs at a greater pace these days thanks to lower prices, which in turn is fast tracking the penetration of smart TVs into the market place.
How is this impacting set-top boxes? According to BI, Apple TV and Roku have the largest market share for streaming devices, while Google's Chromecast dongle "has also achieved stellar sales numbers." Even so, smart TVs are expected to account for the majority of television shipments by 2014, even if consumers choose to ignore the baked in capabilities and roll with a set-top box instead.
Another thing to keep an eye on is platform fragmentation. Chromecast, LG, and Roku have all embraced open platforms that give developers enhanced freedom to develop apps for their devices, while Samsung, Apple, and a few others have gone with closed ecosystems.