Report: Apple May Create Standalone TV Product
Despite Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ 2008 statement that “no one has succeeded” in combining the internet, movies and tv into one living-room gadget, the Cupertino, Calif. company reportedly is revamping its AppleTV software and hiring broadcast design experts for what could be a new product based on the iOS operating system running the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
According to the New York Times, much of the new work is being done outside the Apple TV area and in a new design group, a move that “could signal an entirely new product.”
If correct, the report would dovetail with an early statement by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster that Apple was “uniquely positioned” to offer a HD TV product in the next two to four years. In March, the analyst suggested the product could replace your cable box, HDTV, Blu-ray player and digital video recorder for $1,999.
The use of iOS would allow an Apple TV owner to stream television shows and movies with a Netflix app, ABC’s TV player and Hulu. Although Apple has previously called AppleTV a “hobby” and downplayed the ability of any company to offer a full-featured product, the introduction of Google TV has sharpened the focus for Cupertino, one analyst believes.
“I suspect it’s only a matter of time before this hobby gets turned into a business, the TV space is too important to ignore,” Altimeter Group partner Michael Gartenberg told the newspaper.
- Via 9to5Mac and the New York Times
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
