Report: Apple is Working on an Actual HDTV
Is Apple working on an HDTV with an iTunes-like interface?
Bloomberg reports that the software engineer behind iTunes, Jeff Robbin, is now working on an HDTV for Apple. The news follows Steve Jobs' admittance to biographer Walter Isaacson that he had finally figured out how to build an integrated HDTV that wirelessly synchronized content with other Apple devices.
"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," Jobs told Isaacson in the biography "Steve Jobs," released to bookstores yesterday by publisher Simon & Schuster.
According to the report, Apple already has a prototype in the works and may introduce an actual retail product by late 2012 or 2013. But one unnamed individual states that the existence of a prototype doesn't actually mean Apple will release an HDTV product. As it stands now, the company hasn't acknowledged that it's developing any type of related product outside its current Apple TV box despite Steve Job's biography.
But Apple is now in a better position to offer a complete HDTV package thanks to Siri and iCloud. With iCloud, users could store their video, music, pictures and other content on Apple's servers and stream that content directly to the HDTV. Siri's voice-control technology could help consumers search for content by simply speaking to the device.
Even more, Apple may find a way to allow users to install apps directly on the HDTV itself so that gamers can play in full 1080p and use their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch as a wireless controller. Just recently, Valve Software's Gabe Newell said that he expected Apple to change the definition of console gaming in the living room. Perhaps he knows more than he's willing to admit.
Microsoft is gearing up to turn its Xbox 360 console into a TV receiver with the launch of its new interface on November 25 (Black Friday). The console currently offers movies, TV shows and music to rent, purchase and download. But the new Siverlight-based service will seemingly make the device more of a multimedia hub than a gaming center offering HBO Go, SyFy, Comcast programming, FiOS programming and more.
An unnamed source close to the project said that one of Apple's goals with the HDTV is to let users more seamlessly search for a show or movie by possibly integrating listing from Netflix, Hulu, cable Tv programming and other sources into the HDTV's interface. But that would mean content providers will need to change the way they make available their movies and TV shows.
Unlike Google TV which is a Smart TV platform co-developed by Google, Intel, Sony and Logitech for 3rd-party HDTVs, Apple will be providing both the hardware and software for its solution. Currently there's no word if the HDTV will replace the current Apple TV digital media receiver, or be sold as a separate entertainment option.
Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry thinks that Apple's HDTV will be similar to the Bose VideoWave TV. "Apple HDTV is directionally similar to Bose VideoWave TV, in terms of simplicity, image and sound quality, and reducing clutter," he said, adding that Apple will push the concept even further using its "spartan-but-elegant design sensibility."
Will Apple revolutionize the living room like it did with the mobile sector after launching the first iPhone?
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Oooooooh, I'll bet that TV is going to be reasonably priced!
[/sarcasm]
Will it be HDMI compatible? Displayport? 1080p? 3D? 240 Hz?
Maybe we will get Apple to push for 1600p? Retina-quality display?
Awesome! That's just what I needed... a TV where the manufacturer pre-sets the brightness, contrast, volume, etc. It will be revolutionary for an Apple product if you get to choose the channel you watch or decide where in the room you place it. If something should not work on it? Well... you're watching it wrong.
Will it be HDMI compatible? Displayport? 1080p? 3D? 240 Hz? Maybe we will get Apple to push for 1600p? Retina-quality display?
Retina display for 720p local station broadcast ? that if you even have station airing 720p , and don`t tell me Bluray since most of the time spent at TV is actually watching TV stations not playing disks ... at least i`m watching mostly National Geographic and Discovery for other things the TV is quite useless for me.
Samsung as well as all other HDTV makers should sue the hell out of Apple for HDTV that looks like a giant rectangle.
Samsung as well as all other HDTV makers should sue the hell out of Apple for HDTV that looks like a giant rectangle.
maybe they`ll bring back the 4:3 look and call it revolutionary!!!!
how dare you direct sarcasm at anything apple do or might be doing, dont you know apple is a fruit err i mean the be all and end all of all things related to technology
I'm an Apple Hater, but honestly that sounds awesome. I was never really impressed by Jobs until he pulled off the tablet (the only Apple product which I have ever owned was a IIE). I know Jobs did not invent the tablet, but he did make it user friendly to the extent that people actually wanted one (something the competition never did). This new Apple TV strikes me as a huge leap forward. I suspect the technology will transform every device in our home.
Wow, look at all these Apple haters. Can't say I'm surprised. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but I do think they make quality products, and they nail the look of them too. Are they overpriced? Imo, a little, but you pay for the name I guess.
Oh jesus, let the trolling begin.
Wow, look at all these Apple haters. Can't say I'm surprised. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but I do think they make quality products, and they nail the look of them too. Are they overpriced? Imo, a little, but you pay for the name I guess.
Actually i think there wouldn`t have been so many haters if Apple itself wouldn`t have been such an arogant company lead by such an arogant prick (his bio book made this clear about him). Yes they make quality products and change the looks of things but do you have to be so arrogant about it and sue the shit out of everybody who tries to come up with something similar ? Sorry but evolution needs way more than only 1 company to build things even though at a certain time they invented something. Imagine now all the TV companies sueing Apple for copying a box with a screen that can show TV stations ?
Apple is suing all other touchscreen tablet developers?
Apple is suing all other touchscreen tablet developers?
...Just the ones with the deepest pockets.
Apple is suing all other touchscreen tablet developers?
No Apple only sues the ones that can compete against them.
No Apple only sues the ones that can compete against them.
So what your saying is, they aren't suing anyone. Right?
Awesome! That's just what I needed... a TV where the manufacturer pre-sets the brightness, contrast, volume, etc. It will be revolutionary for an Apple product if you get to choose the channel you watch or decide where in the room you place it. If something should not work on it? Well... you're watching it wrong.
Exactly!! You read my mind..
Wow, look at all these Apple haters. Can't say I'm surprised. I'm not an Apple fanboy, but I do think they make quality products, and they nail the look of them too. Are they overpriced? Imo, a little, but you pay for the name I guess.
It's not that they aren't quality products..... Oh, wait, they aren't. My iphone 4 died after 1 year of normal use..
Itunes is horrible, and everything is proprietary, and overpriced... Can't even change a battery if it dies.... And whats with everything looking the same? It's bad enough driving into a rich town where every car is black white, or silver, does everything apple have to be colorless and look exactly the same?
So what your saying is, they aren't suing anyone. Right?
For me Samsung Galaxy S II > iPhone, and Galaxy tab > iPad ... oh wait Apple already sues Samsung for that ... but the funny part about it is that if you take and open the fukin iphone/ipad you`ll find out that is actually Samsung who built some of it, after this they went to TSMC for their insides.
Take a new sony LED flat screen TV on it, now permanently mount an iPad to the back - TADA!
It's not that they aren't quality products..... Oh, wait, they aren't. My iphone 4 died after 1 year of normal use..
...and I have 2 iPod Touches (G4) purchased on the same day from the same shelf that have completely different color temps to their displays.
Maybe the warmer colored one was tinted with the blood from the wrists of a Foxconn worker.
I think it's pretty obvious that Apple invented HDTVs, and everyone else should respect their patents. I don't get why people in here hate innovation.
-- Typed from my iPhone 4S!
After building this TV, I'll bet Apple will file suit against Samsung in Europe for patent infringement... gasp!
For me Samsung Galaxy S II > iPhone, and Galaxy tab > iPad ... oh wait Apple already sues Samsung for that ... but the funny part about it is that if you take and open the fukin iphone/ipad you`ll find out that is actually Samsung who built some of it, after this they went to TSMC for their insides.
So, all I need is bad ass hardware and BAM, I have a sweet tablet? This same situation could be compared to two race cars. Liiiike, the 10' VW GTI vs. 10' Subaru STI - Subaru has a more powerful powerplant, AWD yet with the same driver, it's slower on the track. This is all too in depth. Sorry.
Take a new sony LED flat screen TV on it, now permanently mount an iPad to the back - TADA!
sounds like you might have an inside scoop here, but you left out the iPhone remote. haha
0I think the idea of installing the brains of a multimedia device inside a nice TV is a bad idea because the TV may last you 6-8 years, but the computing device inside may be out of date in 2-3 years.
It's kind of like my 6 year old Acura with navigation. The car is still great, but the 6 year old computer in the dash is a joke.
So what your saying is, they aren't suing anyone. Right?
They went after HTC and Samsung, the 2 biggest in the phone and tablet Android arena and 2 who were shaping up to very much compete with them and they tried to ban both of them from shipping products. Apple doesn't like playing fair, competition to them is only good when they are behind, once they are leading competition is bad and should be destroyed, like Steve said he wanted to do to Android.
Sony already has integrated the PS3 interface in allot of their tv's, much better than the traditional horrible menu system. I could care less what Apple does, not that I care what Sony does either.
As long as it does not carry the Apple logo and force some TOS down your throat, then we are good.
Simplest user interface? For what? I bet most user's don't even venture into TV control's beyond the Everything Remote given to them by the cable/satellite company that turns it on and off. Wonder if it will be shiny and white.
Any show that would depict/show or talk about APPLES will be banned from showing on Apple HDTV. So shows like "Desperate Housewives" would be replaced by the classic Tarzan series... lots of bananas.
Well the first year they will release a 720p 60hz lcd, 2000$. 6 months later will be the 1080i 120hz, and maybe if were lucky throw in a hdmi port. for $2500. 3rd year they will buy patents for these tv's and sue the shit outta everyone.
Apple is a joke.
Except that you can only watch the channels apple says are OK.