A little over three months ago I lauded iQiyi (NASDAQ:IQ), the so-called Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) of China, as a great company, but cautioned that right then may not be the best time to buy IQ stock.

While the then-previous quarter’s revenue growth rate of 57% was intoxicating, iQiyi stock was on the verge of coming down from a post-IPO high.

I hope you took the advice. Although shares edged a little higher over the following few days, IQ stock is down more than 30% since my warning. The pain may not be over yet.

On the other hand, as bullish as the bigger-picture thesis was at the time, as of Friday it’s even more bullish. The company borrowed a page from the Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) playbooks and launched a game-changing device that may well make it the centerpiece of its target market.

Right Partners in Tricky Environment

For the unfamiliar, iQiyi is a Chinese company serving China’s video consumers. It’s most frequently compared to Netflix, and the parallels are clear; the platform sells access to curated television and movies.

It’s not a description that does the company justice though. iQiyi also looks a bit like Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) venue YouTube, in that it also offers ad-supported access to digital video including user-generated content.

By many measures, however, even splitting the difference doesn’t describe the opportunity at hand.

The technology of television is universal. The creation and dissemination of television content, however, is anything but. China’s television industry is, unsurprisingly, not only highly regulated but highly restricted.

It’s that backdrop that makes Beijing Gehua Cable TV Network (BGCTV) a noteworthy middleman.

It’s the only operator allowed to build and operate a cable television network in Beijing, one of China’s biggest cities and arguably the most important, called home by 25 million as well as the country’s capital. If a company wants to establish roots anywhere and receive governmental favor, it’s there.

And, albeit it in a small way, that’s just what iQiyi did. With developmental help from the country’s favorite search engine Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), the company unveiled its Gehua Little Fruit Set Top Box. The device connects televisions to not just web-based video, but also BGCTV broadcasts as well.

IQ Stock and the Changing Landscape

Many consumers living in the western half of the world at least have an idea of how IPTV devices from Apple and Roku work. These devices aren’t as easy to use overseas though.

They are particularly tough to use in China where they’ve generally faced heavy-handed regulation that often leads to an outright banning of certain channels and content. That doesn’t mean the country’s consumers don’t love them though.

IQ’s Gehua Little Fruit Set Top Box is a means of directly addressing that market with a device that at least tacitly receives the blessing from Chinese regulators, because of itsBGCTV partnership.

As for the positive impact the development of the set-top box may have on IQ stock, it’s difficult to say. Specific data on sales of Apple TV and Roku devices in China is either non-existent or impossible to retrieve.

But, given that the market-leading Roku is used by 22 million consumers all over the world, and given that China’s television market is now the second-biggest in the world, it’s difficult to not be optimistic about the Gehua device in a relatively uncompetitive market.

Where iQiyi has an edge that no other digital, on-demand video company there or in North American has (except for an oddly uncompetitive Google), however, is that it is both the messenger and the medium. It makes the device and at least some of the content that will be viewed using it. Both bear revenue.

Looking Ahead for IQ Stock

Any specifics on the market size and potential revenue? Not a single one. It’s unlikely that even iQiyi knows where this could lead and when or even if it will get a chance to launch such a product outside of the Beijing area. The company just knows what the future could hold, having watched it already unfurl for Apple TV and Roku elsewhere.

Even without the specifics though, the fact that Roku has come from behind to push Apple into second place in the streaming-TV box market speaks volumes about what the introduction of a China-friendly device could do for iQiyi and IQ stock. Moreover the fact that Apple, Google and Netflix are all peddling content-as-a-service supports the notion that this is more than a fad.

That’s still not to say the stock’s all the way past its post-IPO blues, but the more that dust settles, the more compelling iQiyi stock becomes.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.