iPads, Apple TVs and Mac Minis are increasingly common in pro AV, yet the company seems content to sit on the sidelines. While investigating why, Tim Kridel finds that some integrators and AV vendors are done waiting for Apple to make a move.
If you haven’t worked on a project that includes iPads, Apple TVs or Mac Minis, it’s a safe bet you will – and soon. If you have, then Paul Anderson feels your pain.
Clients increasingly want Apple products to work with their AV systems. So unless an integrator is willing to forgo those clients, it has to find a way to accommodate them. Whitlock, for example, is in the early stages of getting an Apple dealership – an ironic effort, considering that as Audio Fidelity Communications, it was an Apple dealer before selling that business to focus on pro AV.
Apple products are showing up in more classrooms and offices because customers are requesting them, not because Apple is promoting them. It’s a classic example of consumer experiences setting workplace expectations.
The influx also is fueled by the growing number of companies with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies. That means someone – the IT staff or an AV integrator – has to figure out how to accommodate employees who want to be able to connect their iPad to a conference room’s projector.
Despite this adoption, Apple has no sales channels or other initiatives aimed at the pro AV market, with the tangential exception of education. It might sound foolish for Apple to effectively ignore the market, but that strategy could actually make sense: The less that Apple spends courting and supporting pro AV, the more profitable those sales are.
To learn more about how Apple products are set to impact on the AV industry read the full article in
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