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Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday said that his company’s TV set-top business, Apple TV, is still just a “hobby.”

Apple TV, which now retails for $229, is a device that sends audio and video files (including high-def shows) from your PC to a High-Definition TV.

Jobs referred to Apple TV as a hobby when the company launched the service in March 2007. However, several Wall Street analysts and tech pundits have hailed the set-top as the future of television, suggesting it would replace traditional TV providers such as cable and satellite.

But Apple TV sales have fared poorly, according to retailers, and the company has refused to even release sales figures. Yesterday, Jobs seemed to downplay that Apple TV — or its set-top competitors such as Vudu and LG/Netflix — would experience success in 2009, either.

“Well, again, I think the whole category is still a hobby now—nobody has succeeded at it,” he told financial analysts during a conference call. “Given the economic conditions, the venture capital outlook, I think it will continue to be a hobby in 2009.”

Despite Jobs’ remarks, many Wall Street analysts have said that retail set-tops and other digital download services that deliver movies and shows over the Net would surpass Blu-ray high-def disc players in sales.

Source: TV Predictions.Com

Posted by:  Geoff Caplan
http://geoff-caplan.com