One of the TVs in our household gave up on us. I think it was the move from MA to IL that killed it. Can’t complain since it has been around for 7 years, which is now considered a long life for TVs. As I started looking for a replacement, I found that streaming services providers like Roku and Amazon, have their own branded TVs. Of course the quality is not like Samsung or LG, but they are out there. That makes you wonder, why did they decide to foray into a market which already has a plethora of players?

The first answer that comes to mind is simple- ecosystems. But that does not seem like a good alignment for Roku. Roku’s primary expertise is the streaming platform. That already was available into many different hardware options. So why get into a domain that you had not experience with?

I thought maybe a better integration of the streaming hardware with the TV itself. Maybe that enhances the viewing experience.I researched the specs of the TV and found that was not the case. In fact, I decided to go with a budget TV myself and Roku’s build quality and specifications were at par, if not less, than the brand I bought.

At this point, you may be thinking that since I titled this article “A Tale of Two TVs”, it is going to be about Roku and Fire TV. You are right about Fire TV. But the second TV that this article will touch upon does not exist. Confused? Well, keep reading.

In the case of Fire TV, the ecosystem aspect seems to be a better fit. If you have echo displays with a Fire TV, you now have a giant Echo,? Now I don’t own any functional echo displays currently so not sure how the build quality is, but the Fire TV quality was not better than the budget TV I was considering.

Upon further research, I figured that the brand of TV I was considering, actually manufactures Fire TVs. Now the reason Amazon is Amazon is because it is NOT a luxury or high-end brand but a brand of the masses, promising to deliver the best bargains, cheap and fast. That reflects in almost all the other products that it offers, ranging from Kindle tablets to TVs.

But TV is different from Kindles and Fire tablets. With tablets, the platform supports the Kindle offering massively. I can not fathom, with fire TV sticks available in many variations, what immense business value can Amazon realize, by entering a market that is very competitive, where it can never be among the best, and where people can get the best of their TV setup, by buying their sticks and using them with a great TV.

The tale of this first TV hence ends with my interpretation that unless you love the idea of streaming platforms integrated as TV OS, or you would buy anything that says “Fire”, it is not a prudent business move. And the population of people who would fall in these two categories (can’t imagine buying a TV without Fire OS or are mesmerized with “Fire” brand) isn’t high enough. I think Amazon will drop this in few years.

But what if you were an electronics company where people would buy your product just because your brand is perceived as high-end, innovative, reliable and nerdy?

And this my friends, brings us to the tale of the other TV. The one that never existed.

Apple TV. The iTV.

I have been thinking about this for a few years now. So when I read that Apple is ditching its Apple car ambitions, I thought, what if that time and money was invested into something that adds beautifully to their portfolio—an Apple TV, the iTV?

In my opinion, an iTV would fit so beautifully with their current ecosystem in so many ways that I am amazed they have decided not to go that way. Apple enthusiasts seek features like Air Play in other TV operating systems. But an Apple TV will not be just about an extension of a mac. Apple can make that TV a central powerhouse of its ecosystem (Hint- TVs can carry more hardware power vs other edge devices) and can infuse an amount of innovation in an ecosystem that will be difficult to match.

For a long time, Samsung has had a big market share of mobile devices and TVs. However, the integration it has achieved so far has been vanilla. The integration between a Samsung Galaxy phone and a Samsung TV is not better than the integration between an iPhone and a Samsung TV.

As the competition intensifies in its flagship areas, Apple can use. iTV to build a “turbocharged” ecosystem that can offer capabilities that do not exist. The TV will cost a premium, but people will spend money on an Apple TV. It is the brand association.

This tale might or might not happen. But we will see.