Analysts Tighten Predictions on Apple TV to Late 2012 / Early 2013 By David Murphy PC Magazine
August 28, 2011 05:30pm EST http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2391985,00.asp Another year, another series of rumors about the Apple TV: That's Apple TV as in, literally, a television created by Apple, not the company's set-top box. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is one of the latest pundits to weigh in on the possibility of a full-fledged Apple television coming to life at some point in the future. In a recent interview with VentureBeat's Dylan Tweney, Munster throws down his official prediction for the television's debut: Late 2012 or early 2013, just in time for the debut of the iPhone 6 and rumormongering over the potential features of the iPhone 7. We kid. But Munster isn't: Multiple sources have allegedly tipped off the analyst that a television is on its way, and these tipsters–ranging from component suppliers to an internal source at Apple itself–have led Munster to predict that the Apple television will likely run some variant of Apple's iOS. And, no, there's no indication that the television itself would be a giant touchscreen. The rumors run hand-in-hand with an intriguing interview conducted two months ago between DailyTech's Jason Mick and an unnamed, former Apple executive. In the interview, the executive supported the rumor that Apple's next big product launch would be one of its biggest yet, and physical televisions are the target. Claiming that an Apple TV would, "blow Netflix and all those other guys away," the executive went on to describe how Apple TVs would basically come to the market as branded devices: An OEM like Samsung Electronics would create the physical television itself and Apple would bundle Apple TV and iTunes within the set. "You'll go into an Apple retail store and be able to walk out with a TV. It's perfect," said DailyTech's anonymous Apple source. However, the Apple TV rumors haven't sold everyone on the idea that a physical television is the new game-changing device in Apple's hand. For starters, Google's already beaten Apple to the punch with Google TV-integrated televisions: Admittedly, Google doesn't sell the sets themselves, but it would be almost an overstatement to say that response to Google TV has been lukewarm thus far. In fact, Sony just dropped the price of its Google TV-integrated televisions earlier this month, discounting them anywhere from $300 to around $700 in an effort to capture more of the market. There's also the simple truth that a television sales just can't deliver the kind of profits that Apple's used to seeing on its hardware devices. "TVs are very low frequency purchases, meaning if Apple built intelligence into the sets, their replacement cycles would be far longer than for lower cost consumer electronics," said Gdgt's Ryan Block, explaining part of the reason why he thinks Apple TV rumors will continue to describe a dud. "Talk about adding insult to injury: not only do TVs have low margins, people hardly ever buy them," he added _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
