“Speaking with Bloomberg today about Apple’s upcoming earnings call, Piper Jaffray’s Apple analyst Gene Munster said his most recent checks with suppliers in Asia and industry sources indicate Apple is moving to release a full-fledged television this year with a new remote,” Jordan Kahn reports for 9to5Mac.
“Munster is expecting the Apple TV set to be one of three catalysts to help investors get behind Apple stock again in 2013. The other two being a Retina iPad mini in March and a low-cost iPhone later in the year,” Kahn reports.
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Gene Munster: Here’s why Apple didn’t release a TV this year, either – November 28, 2012
Piper Jaffray’s Munster finds more evidence of Apple television – February 1, 2012
Piper Jaffray’s Munster: Apple positioned to introduce premium connected HDTV in 2-4 years – March 23, 2010
I’ll hold you to your early prediction Gene…
ITV will only appeal to a fan boy niche. Not going to be a big seller. Not much margin either. The roadside is littered w former TV manufacturers. This could be Tim Cooks Waterloo!
Stand behind me, I’m first in line.
You’ll be in a line of one.
You realize people said precisely the same things about Apple making a phone, right? I don’t mean some of the same things, either. There were articles which went on and on making the same assumptions you just did.
The iPhone analogy makes no sense. First of all, a TV is not a personal gadget that is deemed essential for everyday existence. Secondly a TV is a high priced item that is purchased once every 7 years with long replacement cycles. Thirdly you don’t need more than one TV per household. Fourthly using the existing Apple TV as a guide, there isn’t that much pent up demand for an Apple branded TV set.
This thing is DOA.
– A TV is not personal or deemed essential, yet somehow every household has one.
– Many TVs are not high-priced at all, and many people replace them more often than 7 years.
– It’s true that nobody needs more than one TV per household, but the reality is that 50% of households in the US have three or more sets.
– Apple sold 1.3 million Apple TV’s in Q3, so probably in 5 million-plus for calendar 2012; this, in spite of the fact that Apple hasn’t spent a dollar marketing it. Nobody has any idea how great it is. It’s not a TV, and Apple hasn’t even marketed it to the masses, so I don’t so it’s in any way a harbinger of TV sales.
Look, I don’t even think Apple is going to build a TV. I just think most of the reasons people give that Apple can’t or won’t do it are ignorant at best, and inane at worst.
That that last bullet point was supposed to read, “I don’t see how is in any way a harbinger of TV sales.”
Oh, and one more thing… How long do you think people keep their nicer computers? A lot of folks hang onto their $2500 iMacs or MacBooks for five years… Kind of like a TV.
There’s an average of 2.5 TVs per household and 31% of Americans have 4 or more TVs.
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/factsheet-the-u-s-media-universe/
I’m with you ecrabb, I have to give Gene Munster and Apple the benefit of the doubt. I think it’s coming and I think Apple will do it right.
How can we make any predictions about how successful or not it will be when we don’t know anything about it?
Doesn’t make much sense.
Ya right, gettin on with iPad mini retina display.
RI-DI-CU-LOUS
No, it won’t happen any time ever. There’s no business logic venturing into TVs when the $99 Apple TV does everything I need it to, except install more apps which I’m sure is coming soon.
No, really, it’s not.
It all depends on implementation. If Apple releases something light years ahead of current televisions, with 4K resolution, Siri, an improved ad system, they will sell at least 2 million no matter the price. The trick is getting around the existing infrastructure with satellites. Yeah, yeah. I know I’m dreaming.
Anyway, even the current Apple TV with updated apps will do well.
Do you know how much a 4K TV currently costs? $50,000. Not too many buyers there.
$25,000
And that’s because TV manufacturers charge early adopters through the nose so that later TVs are subsidized and the manufacturer can pay off R&D costs.
Apple tends to price their products medium-high from the beginning.
I have been putting off buying a TV in the hopes Apple launches one. I have several friends who have done the same thing. No one wants to buy a crummy Samsung or Panasonic and then find that Apple now sells a TV. It is clear, as with everything else, it will be an Ive masterpiece.
2052 In a dark room, a man sits alone near a fireplace where the fire is just about to go out. An old woman stops at the door and says, “Will that be all tonight Mr. Munster?” The crotchety old man grumbles something and the old woman walks away. It is at this moment he realizes he is drawing his last breaths, and as the fire goes out in the fireplace, his hand with his hot milk tilts, the milk spilling on the floor, and his lasts words, as he exhales his last breath are, “Apple will introduce an Apple branded television in…. ahhhhhh” He slumps over. Dead. Long ago forgotten.
Ironically television as people knew it vanished back during the 2020s when most people began to get entertainment from personal devices like smartphones and tablets. What Mr. Munster failed to realize is that Apple introduced the Apple TV when they introduced the iPad.
An Apple TV will be successful only if it radically changes how we find and interact with content. And in order for that to be successful, Apple is going to have to make a TV which is able to be this radical change but work with existing content delivery services (DirecTV, cable, etc.) without their assistance, or partner with content providers (whether studios, DirecTV, etc.).
If an Apple TV set is just AppleTV built into a very nice looking screen with an Apple logo on it, then Apple will have a flop on its hands. Sure, it may sell thousands, but it also would get hammered by the media for not changing the TV dynamic.
A Mac Mini with Plex Server/Client, a Roku box and any high-end HDTV paired with a good surround-sound system is all you need.
And we will have colonized Mars by 2020. Munsters predictions are about as reliable as Obama’s promises.