Can Apple Strike Fear in the Heart of This Industry?

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) television set-top box doesn’t support gaming apps just yet, but according to Gabe Newell, the co-founder of video game development company Valve, the iPhone maker is a bigger threat to the industry that Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation or Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox.

Newell, speaking at the University of Texas, said Apple’s entry into the living room spells danger for the Steam Box, Valve’s yet-to-be-launched gaming platform designed to offer user-generated content at affordable prices. “The biggest challenge, I don’t think is from the consoles,” Newell said, according to Polygon. “I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together.”

Apple is expected to soon offer a quiet update to the Apple TV device, with a new wireless chip and a faster overall processor.

“The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform,” Newell said. “I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging — I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?”

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