“A high-ranking source with a major electronics retailer has told TechnoBuffalo to expect the long-rumored Apple TV set this April, or possibly May at the latest,” Jon Rettinger reports for TechnoBuffalo.
“Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the source said they’ve seen ‘gorgeous, very thin’” pre-production versions of the set in person, and that they employ OLED panels at various sizes up to 42-inches,” Rettinger reports. “If true, Apple’s set will debut as the largest OLED based HDTV on the consumer market. LG and Samsung debuted 55-inch OLED sets at CES earlier this month, but neither is set to launch as soon as April.”
Rettinger reports, “While we don’t know if the set will be running it’s own version of iOS, we do know that will have deep integration with devices running the popular operating system. They’ll also sport Siri style voice controls as well as facial recognition software, and plans for the TV’s voice control system are said to far exceed what’s currently in use on the iPhone 4S. And if the user opts to not use voice, an iOS device can be used as a stand in remote. Apple execs are reportedly describing the new product line as a ‘hub’ to your life, replacing the PC as the most-used device in a consumer’s home. Welcome to the ‘Post-PC Era.'”
Muchd more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “ThomRhodes” for the heads up.]
Got mine already! An Apple employee left it behind at the local biergarten. It is SWEET!
I had a drink with Gray Powell & all I got was a lousy 42″ OLED TV.
Thanks. I needed a good chuckle.
The sandwich guy at my local Wawa has had one for years! He told me all about it.
(Actually, in live in NYC now. Love NYC, but very sad that there are no Wawas here…. Jealous of Jason O’Grady’s Wawa sandwich guy Apple tech rumor access.)
This could be a game changer, but I was hoping for something in the 70 inch range.
same.
42 I may buy to replace my 36 in the office… But my 55″ in the front room?… Not a chance, I’ll keep it and the apple tv.
Give ’em time . . . give ’em time. If the first is as successful as Steve promised it would be, a flood of variations will most certainly follow.
Exactly, as larger OLED sizes become available and affordable they will come. This has always been the Apple pattern. They jump in at a point where the evolution will give them a steady stream of larger sizes, capacities and capabilities come along. It’s a beautiful thing. And we all get to share in the adventure ahead. Steve has made it so.
Coming soon as the iFahrenheit451.
“Apple execs are reportedly describing the new product line as a ‘hub’ to your life”
Steve said that iCloud was the Hub.
I call B S.
The Apple TV shall rule.
Ahh. Thanks for the credit MDN. Much appreciated.
I may get one for the bedroom, but 42 inches is too small otherwise. I need the 55 inch version that will come later for the TV room.
Does anyone have any idea what the ballpark pricing will be. I have no idea what the other OLED units are supposed to sell for.
Thanks
It’s a rumor!
silverhawk1, thanks so much for your valued assistance. I misunderstood the term in the headline that said “Rumor”. I thought it said “NEWSFLASH!!”.
Does anyone know the projected cost of the other OLED televisions from LG and Samsung that might provide a basis for the RUMORED Apple TV.
I don’t put much credence in this rumor, but the source article says:
The only question that remains, assuming our source is reliable, is how much Apple’s TV will cost. Neither LG nor Samsung talked pricing for their 55-inch OLED prototypes, but most journalists have been predicting the sets will retail for at least $7,000 when they hit stores this summer. Apple’s panels will be smaller, and CEO Tim Cook has a well-earned reputation for getting great prices from his suppliers. Even still, it’s hard to imagine a 42-inch Apple TV selling for $999. If the set costs $2,000 or 3,000, would you buy one?
BORING!… I’ll wait for the post highlighting Apple’s announcement of said Apple iTV and then wait for the keynote video to be posted.
“Sorry, 42″ ain’t gonna do it.”
That’s what she said.
Hmm, we’ve got this far into the comments and not *one* person has written ‘That’s what she s-
-ah!
Prices start at $5,200 for the 16 GB version, $5,800 for the 32 GB . . .
😛
I have been hosed on opening-day purchases from Apple too many times in the past, cough $600 iPhone, cough G5, cough DTS Pentium4, cough. Waiting for V2.
42″? That’s the ‘lil TV in the bathroom. Looks like it’s NOLED for me until screen sizes grow a bit.
Man, I’m feeling tiny. Biggest set in the house is 32″.
Caveman, just sit a lot closer to the cave wall and your 32” will seem like a 55”
If true this would easily become Apple’s biggest sales flop since “The Cube”,and cast serious doubt on Captain Cook’s navigational instincts.
I’ll put it on my desk between my two 23′ monitors. It’ll be neato.
Some people are so gullible to think this is real. it is just another false rumour and is likely based on another manufacturer.
Microsoft. The “new” rounding error!
Looks like nonsense, because Apple usually covers high-end segment, too. So there is no way they would only do cheap small TVs (yes, by now 42″ is “small”). With only small cheaper TVs, there is no room for Apple to earn needed 40+ gross margin.
Also, if it will be OLED (doubtful, to be fair), then it hardly will be in April/May since new equipment for cheap massive manufacturing of screens with that technology will be only deployed closer to the end of this year, when both Samsung and LG promised their 55″ OLED TVs will be available at finally very good price.
Wow… in the last few months we have purchased a 60″ for the living room, 50″ for the game room, and four 42″s for the bedrooms.
By the time we’re ready for the next round, hopefully they will have much bigger sizes available!
Remember the U2 iPod? Well, will there be a n AppleTV Special Edition BLN 4″ version?
Never gets old… 😉
Fail.
Like others have said, a 42″ TV might be big enough for a spare bedroom/kitchen/bathroom but it won’t take the place of the 58″ plasma we’ve had in the living room the last two years. Kinda starting to feel like it’s even a little small now.
Wow, I didn’t realize 42″ was so small. So far we have one flat screen in our house, a 22″ TV in the bedroom. We are just looking at TVs for the living room and both my husband and I thought 42″ was plenty big for us. I think this *need* for large TVs is overrated.
I didn’t design our apartment but the only way to set up the living room is to put the TV on one wall and the couch against the opposite wall. So the distance between the TV and the couch is the width of our whole apartment – at least 15 feet. Try watching a 42″ TV from that distance without opera glasses. Hence why we have a 58″ 1080p plasma.
Per an HDTV guide:
Based on the common theory on the limits of human vision, to see all the detail an 1080p HDTV can produce at a viewing distance of 15′, you will need a 122″ HDTV.
Based on the more optimistic theory on the limits of human vision, to see all the detail an 1080p HDTV can produce at a viewing distance of 15′, you will need a 59″ HDTV.
Also, my wife thought a 50″ plasma would be bigger than we needed when we walked into Abt but I set her up in a chair 15 feet away and she agreed we should get the 58″. Luckily it was the year-old model and a special sale weekend.
Apple OLED HDTV sounds all fine and stuff but 42″ is way, WAY too small nowadays as the main TV, I doubt you can even see the difference that much OLED vs. LCD/PLASMA in just 42 inches.
Give me 55″ (at the very bare minimum) and we have another story. Having a 60″ LED LCD I will pass the first round on this one if it’s that small…