Apple expects sales of the new Apple TV to top one million units later this week.
In a brief press release the company gave the first indication that the HDTV interface has been a success since its September debut and the introduction of TV show rentals.
“The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favourite HD movies and TV shows, stream content from Netflix, YouTube, Flickr and MobileMe,” Apple said. “iTunes users are now renting and purchasing over 400,000 TV episodes and over 150,000 movies per day.”
Apple never revealed sales figures for the first-generation Apple TV, which chief executive Steve Jobs described as a “hobby”. Clearly Apple TV 2 has the potential to be more than that, just as soon as content providers — movie studios and TV broadcasters — realise that selling content is eminently more preferable and profitable than “piracy”.
