RUMOR: Apple to debut 42- and 50-inch widescreen plasma HDTVs at Macworld Expo

“A funny thing happened when I walked into the convenience store this morning: as I was grabbing my usual breakfast sandwich… from the warming rack at Wawa (a favorite shop for those in PA/NJ) the guy re-stocking the rack whispered something to me. I was wearing my Apple logo’d sweatshirt, so he says ‘so you like Apples, huh?’ to which I replied ‘yeah…’ not knowing where he was going,” Jason D. O’Grady reports for O’Grady’s PowerPage.

“He went on to tell me that he had a friend who had a friend who knew something about a new and special Apple announcement that was going to be made on Tuesday’s Macworld Expo keynote address in San Francisco. Sandwich Man (not his real name) elaborated that this was an announcement that he hadn’t seen reported anywhere on the Web. Intrigued, I asked him for more… Sandwich Man proceeded to tell me that Apple was about to rock the consumer electronics world again with an entirely new product line that they’ve never sold before. After some prodding he told me that Apple would announce two new widescreen HDTV plasma displays at Tuesday’s keynote address at Moscone,” O’Grady reports.

Read more about what “Sandwich Man” had to say here.

Last October, The Blackfriars Blog predicted that Apple would introduce an all-in-one Intel-based HDTV system along with an Internet-based content service.

More info here.

Engadget sums up O’Grady’s rumor report with, “The real story here is that Apple would be cramming in whole [Intel] Viiv computers into these things, including Mac OS 10.4.4 for x86, and charging a mere $2599 or $3299 respectively… The included remote will be all 12-buttoned and LCD sporting, but that no keyboard or mouse will be included, leaving these squarely targeted at working your media.”
FYI: Those crazy rumors of open-faced, sauerkraut-less Reubens coming to Wawa next week are completely false.

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68 Comments

  1. I was talking to the local 711 man and he told me the apple would come out with a 4 Gigahertz laptop…. but he was later arested for selling me sandwhiches with 512 MB of ram in them. silly man…

  2. Wow: “so Apple is venturing further into Sony’s territory. they are not going to like that.”

    Sony: “Of course you realize…this means war.”

    Apple: “Get in line.”

  3. Most people would not understand the logic of this type product.
    “An Apple TV? And it only gets stuff you can order through that `iToonz´ thing? No way.”

    Steve can´t figure out how to market his computers or OS; how´s he going to market something more complicated? Black silouettes dancing around a plasma tv.

    And a plasma tv? So…so-so – LCD is the way to go.

  4. 50 inch? 50 INCH?!??? Come onnnn . . . maybe 50 inches is good enough for Michael Dell, but you know what they say about him: “Hey, Michael — you’re pretty high-function for a retard.”

    Hey, I keed. I keed those among us who will one day, in de near future, put a gun in their mouths because Apple has bitch-slapped them into oblivion.

    And I keed because I care about Michael.

  5. Well it would make an interesting twist on an Apple PVR. In some respects it does make sense to bundle something like that with the TV.

    Thing is though – at 3 grand a pop, it doesn’t really make for a high volume product. Sure they will sell them but not a huge number. Apple really need to continue to increase their market share. I’m sure they could sell a lot more Viiv capable mac mini’s and other intel based macs and in the long run it would help them consolidate their presence in the computer / home entertainment market.

  6. I first got wind of this “rumor” about a week ago. Since then I’ved been trying to confirm it via other sources, with no direct luck.

    There has been indirect confirmation coming from articles published in the mainstream press.

    For instance. JP Morgan’s Delaney issued a research note for Intel this past week in which he states, “Intel will ship 4.8 million processors to Apple during CALENDAR 2006. Those processors represent 55% of Apple’s needs for the year.”

    4.8 Million processors is 55% of 9.27 Million processors. Now Apple only shipped 4.573 Million CPUs during Fiscal 2005, a 40% increase over 2004.

    I’m forecasting a 29% increase in CPUs during 2006.

    After factoring out total CPUs and those requiring two processors, I get about 2,000,000 processors unaccounted for. There’s some slop in there, asw I had to adjust my CPU estimates from fiscal to calendar year. Does wild assed guess come to mind?

    Anyway, could those unaccounted processors be destined for an Apple branded HDTV? Keep in mind that a few years back Apple partnered with Samsung to construct a new glass panel fab. The HDTV may be part of the reason for that investment.

    Tuesday should be very interesting.

  7. Well, the announcement would have perfect timing, the projected costs are right in line with what my roommate is looking to spend on a TV in the next few months, so it’s something that I’d look forward to.

  8. “Thing is though – at 3 grand a pop, it doesn’t really make for a high volume product.”

    17″ PowerBooks plus $500 2GB RAM and $349 3 yr. AppleCare [both you’d opt lest ya get the 17″ for looks and not productivity and are mindlessly fearless about the unpredictable] will cost you $3,348.

    Now, I dunno about ‘volume’.

    Nor about wall-mount vs portability demographics

    But 17″ vs 50″ for less than the same price?

    one demo: a lotta public gathering places-for-profit [pubs, eateries, what-have-you] might consider 3 thou a steal for 12-button Front Row GUI/content…crowd content-ability

  9. Why Apple would stuff a MacMini equivalent into a plasma TV and NOT include a mouse or keyboard is ridiculous. Having OSX right there in a living room with no way to use it other than to “work your media” would be a supreme waste of resources.

  10. Let’s see,

    Apple displays:

    1.5″: iPod nano
    2.5″: iPod [video]
    12″: iBook/PowerBook
    14″: iBook
    15″: PowerBook
    17″: iMac/PowerBook
    20″: iMac/Cinema
    23″: Cinema
    30″: Cinema
    42″: ???
    50″: ???

    Jobs, as a rule, habitually covers all bases. HMMMmmm…

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