“Steve Jobs’ last gadget could be on sale as soon as this summer,” Michael Shain reports for The New York Post.
“The Apple TV set — a device that promises to shake up the TV business the way the iPod and i-Phone reshaped music and cell phones — is now being targeted for a summer release, according to reports over the weekend,” Shain reports. “Speculation about what the set will do — will it be voice-activated like the latest iPhone and need no clicker? — is rampant among those who keep a close eye on the computer giant.”
Shain reports, “The newspaper Tokyo Times reported that production is expected to start in February at a factory in central Japan.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
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Analyst: Apple shifts from Samsung to Sharp for new 2012 HDTV displays – November 23, 2011
Steve Jobs on an Apple HDTV: No reason to have all these complicated remote controls – November 18, 2011
Apple HDTV project led by iTunes creator Jeff Robbin, say sources – October 25, 2011
Piper Jaffray: Apple building prototype televisions for potential 2012 launch – October 24, 2011
Steve Jobs’ told biographer: ‘I finally cracked’ the secret to an easy-to-use integrated HDTV – October 21, 2011
Steve Jobs emphasized that iTV was only an internal code name for the product that became the Apple TV. At the time, they had not settled on the final name. Apple never used the name “iTV” after that presentation. The owner of the name is in Britain they panicked and contacted Apple. It is highly unlikely that Apple would produce any product named iTV when it already said it wouldn’t and when it already knows that someone else owns that name. A blogger who can’t remember the recent past is probably not able to prophesy the immediate future either.
The “iTV” name can be bought if you $100B in the bank.
You people just don’t get it. Imagine for live events a built in schedule where you simply click on a show in the future to record it. Imagine a subscription to one channel (e.g. ESPN), or one series of shows (e.g. Lost). Imagine pay per view for live sporting events like NFL games, MSL, CART, and NASCAR, or bundling all of those events, a whole season for one price. Imagine watching ANY NFL game live as it happens, or any time you like after the fact. Imagine no DVR, no menu trees, no remotes with hundreds of buttons. No batteries, no searching under couch cushions, no phone book sized manuals. No cable or satellite companies. I’m ready for Apple’s answer to TV as we now know it!
. . . or being able to watch just the average 11 minutes of actual play action in an NFL game (and any additional jiggies by the cheerleaders).
I still don’t get it!
Still don’t get what, exactly?
Make a TV, of course. They already have the Apple TV that runs OS X. All they have to do is add the Mac layer and voila!
Or you can use a Mac Mini!
Why compete for crumbs in the TV manufacturing businiess?
I don’t get it either.
Pioneer have dropped out of the TV business because they couldn’t make any money making high quality TVs.
Siri would make a great access point to the web and media in the house but are people willing to pay for that in a TV? I’d still prefer a set-top-box cause I don’t need a new TV.
Trying to talk to Siri over a TV set will be a frustrating endeavor. I have a voice controlled remote and it’s useless once the TV is on.
Einstein, the volume will automatically mute once you trigger Siri
Tv sound can be cancelled out when giving viewing instructions. When you know what sound is coming from the device, it is quite simple to “remove” it from new input that sits on it. They already do this with phones and other devices.
I truly believe Apple will not make an actual television set. That makes no sense. They will create a new version of the Apple TV set top box, with reimagined access to the content and subscriptions we desire in a way that actually makes sense.
Agreed.
knock off soon, no wollee
“Well now home entertainment was my baby’s wish
So I hopped into town for a satellite dish
I tied it to the top of my Japanese car
I came home and I pointed it out into the stars
A message came back from the great beyond
There’s fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on
Fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on
Fifty-seven channels and nothin’ on”
Sick boss ref.
With regard to the “iTV”, it’s more like “Fifty-seven predictions and nothin’ goin’ on”.
NY Post is a tabloid, and this story about ‘iTV’ will probably run for years pointless unless Apple will either release something or forget about it.
Such stories should not be published since there is no essence for now in them.
The guy writing the article is really dating himself here. Who says “clicker” anymore? Remote controls haven’t clicked in decades.
Lots of people still refer to a remote as “the clicker” – our household does. Do you “dial” a phone? When was the last time a phone had an actual “dial?”
When was the last time someone used a “computer” to compute numbers?
When’s the last time a “cell” phone used a cellular tower? Why are they still called “ring” tones, when some of them sing. Shouldn’t they be called “incoming call audible notification” ?
You mean – iCan?
Considering all computers understand is 1’s and 0’s, everything we do is computing numbers.
We call ’em ‘zotters’.
Known as ‘zappers’ to us.
“Scepter of Power”
At least it is in the hands of he who has it.
(Which is why there are two in my house – That’s called a “Balance of Power”.)
I’m definitely looking forward to this. I believe Apple will get it right. I got rid of my Verizon FiOS TV service (although keeping the very speedy Internet service) and replaced it with the AT2 and a Netflix account and I love it since I only like to watch a few movies and documentaries every now and then. The only bummer is not being able to watch live sports and I’m not enough of a sports freak to pay separately for it.
The current 46″ Toshiba HDTV in the family room can be moved upstairs to the kids’ playroom with the AT2 and I’ll have the Apple HDTV (assuming it’s 50″ or larger) replace the Toshiba as the main hub for the home network and have it all integrated with two other Macs, two iPads, two iPhones, and an iPod touch. We’re an Apple family indeed – the wife and the kids love the stuff as well. The Apple stuff has really improved the quality of life and made things simpler.
I have a $25 antenna that allows me the live sports that the networks allow me to have. Works enough to keep me mostly satisfied. I assume you have that setup too, but wanted to list it for other readers.
Thanks, Iani. I should consider that for just live sports but I find it hard to sit through 3 hours of ballgames anyway. Just reading the news, the box scores and watching the highlights on the web is good enough to keep a pulse on what’s going in the sports world. Is hooking up an antenna to the HDTV a relatively simple thing to do?
it’s easy, I dumped Dish Network of ten jillion channels of shit…wired a 300 ohm connection to a powered HD antenna, get about 30 stations in my area. With a Netflix subscription, MLBtv subscription on tv and all my ripped movies on an external hard drive, I’ve got all the entertainment and sports I’ll ever need. I agree with Wum Dum Gal, I do not see the need for a stand-alone Apple branded television set.
The problem with TVs (smart or not) is the regional aspects to the technology. Some countries don’t have over-the-air broadcast while others use “open” cable standards vs cable connections only provided via the cable companies. In other places on satellite delivery is available.
Coming up with a universal delivery is very difficult and seems to demand a common vehicle like the Internet. Then the content provisioning becomes the hating item.
Designing and delivering TVs is full of problems globally. How you “tell” it what you want to do is hardly the problem.
@Alex:
Simple as connecting a coax cable to the TV and running it to the similar connection on the antenna. No tools required. I have an antenna on the roof and get 27 good watchable HD channels. A digital signal is either there or it isn’t as far as the TV tuner is concerned. If you have enough signal strength to bring a channel up it will be flawless.
When I had 500 channels I watched the ones I get now 90% of the time. I can buy or rent from iTunes or Netflix with the $60 to $100 I’m not sending to a cable company every month. The only disadvantage is live sports. But those sporting organizations like the NFL and NASCAR that have moved a lot of their events to ESPN or other cable outlets will soon find themselves with a dwindling fan base. I used to follow NASCAR closely, since I was once involved in race car building, but this year, with the bulk of their races on ESPN I don’t know or care who won the NASCAR championship.
TV is not a good solution for my entertainment. I have been using Netflix streaming for 6 months and never turned on the TV signal since. I actually canceled my cable.
…But will they release a 4-inch version for Ballmer’s Left Nut?
SDK
I don’t get it either.
I’ve read all about the “GUI” and Siri and Apple design and blah, blah, blah but what we haven’t read about is, just how practical is an “internet” TV?
What about content? Is the iTunes Store going to be the only source of content, besides the usual suspects like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, et. al.?
If the internet is the medium used for transmission, then good luck trying to sell many Apple-branded televisions. There isn’t enough bandwidth from your ISP to stream everyone’s standard def video much less high def, not without a whole lot of cooperation from your ISP.
Speaking of which, why would the cable company, who also offers broadband internet, want to work with Apple and their internet television? Clearly, cable companies have a distinct advantage because they are wired directly into your home. Same with Dish and DirecTV, they don’t suffer bandwidth issues.
So big deal, Apple comes to market with a television that is awesome looking, complete with a DVR, beautiful menus and themes, wallpaper, ad nauseum, what about content?
I figure this television will stumble, much the same way as Apple TV, because quite frankly, the first iteration was screaming to be hacked just to make it more useful.
I installed a Broadcom Chrystal HD chip in mine, displacing the Airport card, to get 1080p. But more than that, I hacked it in order to have access to hundreds of obscure television channels available only on cable television.
No matter how you slice it though, you have to have broadband access and it would seem Apple is going to have a hard row to hoe, getting everyone to accept all of their content over wireless.
Apple why don’t you just launch a fricking satellite or two, or four and take the walled garden concept into the 21st Century? Sell a dish with every television.
Anyway, I don’t get it. I don’t want an iTunes Store TV set that only works over wireless.
As an Apple shareholder, I don’t want to see an Apple-branded television that comes with a tuner and cable connections that is supposed to compete with the existing high-end manufacturers on the strength of a fricking GUI and a one-button remote.