CES: The Apple-Shaped TV That Apple Might Have Made (In 1999)
12:45 am, January 6th, 2010, Leander Kahney
LAS VEGAS — The biggest electronics show in America — the Consumer Electronics Show (or CES for short) — opens later this week in Las Vegas, but several companies paid big bucks to preview their new wares to the hundreds of journalists at a special preview event on Tuesday evening.
And there, in the middle of the room, was this bright-red Apple TV. Yeah, a high-def, flat-panel TV shaped like an Apple. The question is, what idiot would buy a TV shaped like an Apple?
“It’s unique, it’s fun, it’s apples,” said the flak unhelpfully.
Made by an unknown-to-me Chinese company, Hannspree, perhaps someone thought it might be mistaken for a real Apple TV, made by, you know, Apple? It has a remarkably Apple-like logo on the front (see the pic after the jump). And it does remind you of the old toilet-seat iBooks of old; the transluscent plastic ones with the carrying handle.
But the company was also displaying TVs covered in fur that looked like Polar and Panda bears, so who knows?
Posted by Leander Kahney in Apple, AppleTV, CES 2010, Humor, News | Comment on this article
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Wait for it……..wait for it, Law SUIT!!!!
Demetri, on January 6th, 2010 at 12:50 am
Odd that these are being “launched” now — they’ve been around in Europe for years, if not since 1999, probably 2003…
Nicole Martinelli, on January 6th, 2010 at 6:36 am
What? ~ these people pay good money to go to Las Vegas… and HUMILIATE themselves?!
A TV by [the REAL] Apple? This THING wouldn’t even be a scribble in Jony Ive’s sketchbook
iFanboy, on January 6th, 2010 at 7:14 am
You write about tech products and you’ve never heard of Hannspree?
Brad, on January 6th, 2010 at 8:39 am
I agree with the first comment. I see a lawsuit coming to them. The Apple Logo is too similar to Apple’s, and as the article pointed out, its as if this tv has been designed based on the old iBook’s.
Andrew Macdonald, on January 6th, 2010 at 9:48 am
This company has a flagship store near Union Square in San Francisco. I visited a couple of years ago, and they had all kinds of crazy designs, including this Batman one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdevers/2591981671/in/set-72157605689902892/
And this one shaped like a teddy bear:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdevers/2592820620/in/set-72157605689902892/
Etc. In general, “TVs for kids playrooms” seemed to be the market they were trying to corner, though I’m not sure how well it is working — it seemed like we were the only ones in the store, and I almost wondered if they were going out of business.
But if they’re still around, there must be at least some people buying them…
Chris Devers, on January 6th, 2010 at 10:04 am