Apple's television venture isn't just a sideshow anymore. Cupertino sold more than $1 billion worth of Apple TV boxes in 2013, CEO Tim Cook said Friday during an annual meeting with shareholders, according to Reuters.
"It's a little more difficult to call it a hobby these days," Cook said during the meeting. The billion dollar figure includes hardware sales of the $99 device, as well as content sold through the platform, like movies and TV shows, Re/Code reported, so it's hard to tell exactly how many Apple TV units the company has sold.
Still, Cook's revelation indicates that quite a lot of people have been willing to open their wallets for the Apple TV box, even if it's not as full-featured a service as many have been pining for.
Cook's comments are also being taken as a possible sign that Apple has a new TV product in the works. Indeed, rumors about a refreshed Apple TV set-top box have been heating up as of late.
Bloomberg, citing unnamed people with knowledge of the matter, earlier this month reported that Apple has been in talks with Time Warner Cable and other media distribution entities to add a fuller portfolio of streaming content to the next version of Apple TV. The Cupertino tech giant is reportedly planning to introduce a next-gen set-top box as early as April and could be aiming to have a new Apple TV system on store shelves in time for the Christmas holidays.
If the Time Warner deal goes through, it would be the first of its kind between Apple and a pay-TV provider. Up until now, all Apple TV content has been app and Internet-based.
For more, see our full review of Apple TV.