Apple TV is a Hobby: Tim Cook Breaks His Silence

When Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster asked on phone, during the conference call, about Apple's strategy for the living room, Cook said the company has sold 1.4 million Apple TV set-top boxes in the Q1 2012, which was a new record of the device. In the last fiscal year, Apple sold 2.8 million Apple TVs.

However, even though the Apple TV product is doing actually very well, Cook said Apple TV is still a hobby, comparing it to big sellers like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod.

Our Apple TV product is doing quite well… but in the scheme of things, we still classify Apple TV as a hobby. We continue to add things to it. If you’re using the latest one — I don’t know about you, but I can’t live without it. Other than that, no comment, Cook said.

Apple TV had always been Steve Jobs' interest. According to Walter Isaacson's authorized biography of Jobs, the tech genius had tried to make an easy-to-use TV set, which could be integrated with the company's various other products and services.

I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use, Isaacson quoted Jobs in his book. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.

The rumors and speculations about Apple TV have flown far and thick over the years, which suggested that Steve Jobs wanted a proper Apple TV, though HDTVs are notoriously low-margin products. Without doubt, the company wouldn't make any profit from Apple TV. However, some rumors also said the company will unveil two models sometime in the middle of 2012.

Unfortunately, Cook doesn't offer further explanation. It's a fantastic product and we continue to pull the string to see where it takes us, but other than that I don't have any comment, he said.