Apple TV Reportedly in the Works, Name Already Taken
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs has garnered all sorts of attention, including a little blurb that Steve Jobs gives about making an Apple TV. No, not that Apple TV, a real TV. Apple watchers have speculated for years that Apple would eventually try to push its way into the flat-panel television market, but instead the company has focused its less than undivided attention on the hobby known as the Apple TV. Now that the good moniker has been taken, it appears that Apple really is looking at moving into television sets.
Apple has a prototype TV in the works and may introduce a product for sale by late next year or 2013, according toGene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos. He based that timing on meetings with contacts close to Apple’s suppliers in Asia, industry contacts and Apple’s patent portfolio. Munster said Apple also is investing in manufacturing facilities and securing supplies of LCD screens.
Now here’s where things go off the rails for me. In his biography, Isaacson quotes Jobs as saying:
I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.
However, the “real” Apple TV project is reportedly being spearheaded by Jeff Robbin who helped develop the original iPod. He is also the software engineer responsible for iTunes, which anyone who has ever used a computer can tell you is an abomination of UI design. So, perhaps that is a bit strongly put. What do you think? Can Jeff Robbin and Apple truly deliver on the wunderTV?
I think they can make the
I think they can make the wunder TV, and it will be called the iTV. Apple is notorious for beta testing on the general public and that is exatly what the current apple tv is. Once they have that perfected they will embed it into a display. They may even call it Apple TV and then rename the apple tv iTV so you can turn your display into a apple TV. I could even see apple gobbling up a cable card tuner company in the near future.
Apple can’t use iTV. ITV has
Apple can’t use iTV. ITV has been used since 1955, so that name is not going to be used. I’m not sure why they would want to do this over just building the little box. Why build a TV that will only be upgraded every 10 years compared to a little $100 box that can be updated every year or two.
It’s good ITV isn’t based in
It’s good ITV isn’t based in the US. Apple would probably find a way to sue them out of existence; prior art, be damned. You know our awesome lawyers and court system would go along with it. It’s great that our “leaders” are forcing this country’s amazing corporate protection system to be incorporated into the rest of the world. </rant>
Wouldn’t it be a hilarious turn of events if ITV managed to sue Apple and force them to drop the “i” from all of their products?
It’s obviously an area that
It’s obviously an area that Apple has been exploring for a while. So far they haven’t had much success in terms of building a hit product. They are all about presenting a seamless out-of-the box experience and the rabid fan base would happily pay a premium for an Appleized TV. I think that it would have to be something more than an iTunes extender like the current device to not be shrugged off, meaning probably bringing the Apple “magic” to CableCARD. They would still be able to push their content, but not so much the new TV broadcasts.