Will the new Apple TV be the PS4's only real challenger this gen?

[Soundwave]

Hynad said:

Soundwave said:

Yet the AppleTV is already crushing Wii U sales since 2012 and selling about on par with the XBox One. And this is with the old model and Apple barely supporting it/throwing any marketing behind it. 

It's not a threat to Sony because it's clearly not going after the same audience, but saying it's a niche device is just stupid. It very easily could end up outselling the XBox One and it will certainly outsell the Wii U easily. 

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/04/23/apple-announces-20m-apple-tvs-sold-since-debut

20M units sold since its debut in 2007, as of april 2014.

http://recode.net/2015/01/27/apple-tv-hasnt-changed-in-years-but-has-sold-25-million-units-anyway/

25M units as of January 2015.

25M units in 8 years. I call that a niche product. 

Again per NeoGaf:

Apple TV estimated shipments - ZhugeEX
2007- 0.3 million
2008- 0.3 million
2009- 0.7 million
2010- 1.6 million (REV2)
2011- 2.8 million
2012- 6.5 million (REV3)
2013- 7.0 million
2014- 6.0 million

 

From 2012 and the REV3 model introduction you can see a huge surge in Apple TV sales. It was a niche product early in its life span when Apple kinda just threw it out on the market, but it's definitely been gaining momentum in the last three years and this new model could certainly push its sales higher than the 6-7 million/range. 

In which case it would be well beyond the Wii U and on par/better than the XBox One. 

I suspect from now on Apple will be pushing this product more and marketing it more heavily too. It is key to their long term aspirations for an Apple subscription based TV service that's supposed to launch next year. 

This device could easily be selling 8-9 million/year going forward, which does certainly put in the discussion of being the 2nd best selling TV game platform whether people on this board like it or not.