Wafer-thin Apple TV rumours too 'slick' to be true?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Thursday, 05 January 2012 12:37

Opinion and Analysis

Although any official Apple TV or iTV launch looks like it will be months, if not a year or more away, the buzz around any actual Apple branded television has heated up after an alleged former Apple employee spilled an alleged secret.

Quick, when you see a 50-inch TV in the labs of famed and recently knighted Apple designer Sir Jonathan Ive, what do you assume?

Is it a TV so he can watch a bit o' telly or some iTunes content while he goes about his work, or could it be an actual Apple TV or iTV? Perhaps there's a round table in there too for Sir Ive to sit around with any fellow round table knights that ever come to visit.

All this supposed leak tells us is that Mr Ive has a TV in his lab. Perhaps he was using it to test the actual Apple TV add-on device rather than any built-in Apple TV technology.

That said, given that Steve Jobs was quoted in his biography stating that he'd 'cracked' the TV interface problem, it's also easy to imagine that the 'slick' looking 50-inch TV was indeed a prototype for whatever televisual amazingness Apple has cook up to pop out of the oven sometime later this year or next.

The news came via News.com.au and a USA Today report, which also made claims any Apple TV or iTV would have Wi-Fi built it, which is a very reasonable suggestion, and that it would be 42-inches or larger, something that also is no particular surprise.

As you'd naturally expect, a mention of Siri powering a voice activated interface was also mentioned, as it will be for most Apple products going forward.

Any such smart Apple iTV would also be fully expected to run a range of apps, especially given competing Smart TVs from the likes of Samsung already boast over 1000 apps, even if this does pale into a massive numeric disparity when held up against Apple's 500,000 iOS apps.

Apple is also said to be in discussions with the networks and production companies that make today's hit TV shows, but is unsurprisingly said to be finding it hard to get actual deals signed which could damage the rich income streams from traditional pay television companies.

Whatever happens, Apple's television will continue creating many waves in the TV industry whether it appears or not, because existing TV manufacturers - one of whom would be supplying Apple with the panels it needs to make its own brand TVs - don't want to see their own brands of televisions decimated by any successful Apple TV launch.

And it's all happening at a time when flat-panel TV prices are cheaper than ever, which is shaking things up enough for TV makers and retailers.

So, while there may be no Apple-brand television set it the near future, in the minds of many, it's simply but a matter of time before an Apple TV-set launch goes live and it truly becomes must-see TV.