iTV - page 4

Like its iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch which utilize the company’s A4 and A5 processors, Apple’s upcoming television set will be powered by a custom-built chip made specifically for the Cupertino company. Sources claim that a number of manufacturers are currently bidding for Apple’s order, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE), and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL).

With rumors of a standalone Apple television set ramping up, Digitimes is reporting that Apple has told suppliers to begin prepping for the manufacturing of an Apple TV set in the first business quarter of 2012, with an expected release in the fall.

The TVs in question will only be available in 32-inch and 37-inch flavors initially, according to the report. Rumors have suggested that Apple will eventually abandon the current Apple TV set-top box and focus on an integrated solution with its own television hardware.

Japan’s Sharp, maker of huge-screen televisions, voiced confidence Thursday as it told reporters Apple isn’t much of a concern. What about the almost incessant chatter that the tech giant will enter the TV manufacturing market with an iTV in 2012? “It’s not something we’re studying very hard,” an executive claims. Unclear whether this is bravado or whistling past the graveyard, but perhaps Sharp missed class the day Apple mangled a whole string of industries thought to be untouchable.

In a new patent just published by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Apple has described a future system for controlling Macs using body language and gesturing, much like the Xbox 360’s Kinect. But frankly, if any Apple product is likely to use motion control, it’s the rumored iTV.

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the so-called iTV, Steve Jobs’s “cracking” of the HDTV problem. But what if the iTV is just a rumor, and Apple instead plans on fixing television by making iMacs into HDTVs?

We’ve been anticipating Apple’s revolutionary new television set, dubbed the “iTV,” since Steve Jobs revealed he had “finally cracked” the TV to his biographer, Walter Isaacson. What we’re most excited about is its rumored Siri integration, but you don’t need to wait until Apple’s set is launched to get a Siri-controlled TV — it’s already here.

Ever since Jobs enigmatically said in his bio that he had “cracked” the television problem, people have been going nuts speculating… and Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has gone so far as to say that the iTV will cost twice as much as a regular television set, and come in three different sizes.

Well, looks like Munster’s forecast has some corroborating evidence. A new report not only says that Apple’s iTV will come in three different sizes, but that it will also pack Apple’s next-gen A6 CPU.

The latest iTV rumor is hitting the web today as Gene Munster told the crowd at IGNITION: Future of Media that the new Apple Television Set has been in the works for sometime now but should be released next year.

Munster is so certain that the new device is coming that he told everyone to wait before buying a new TV because Apple’s is going to be awesome.

We thought we’d put this Apple television business to rest as a pipe-dream, but then Steve Jobs’s biography came out, where he claimed he had finally “cracked” the TV problem. Now the rumor mill has started itself up again with renewed vigor, and the latest report from Nick Bilton over at The New York Times: his sources tell him that Jobs thought that the “industry was totally broken” a real Apple-branded television set “isn’t a matter of if, but when,” a “guaranteed product.”

Too busy to read our liveblog coverage of Apple’s September iPod Event? Everything you need to know about Apple’s new products is below the fold, including details about the new iPod Shuffle, Nano, iPod Touch, AppleTV, iTunes and iOS update.

Startled by the rumors that Apple intends to launch its own streaming television today the rest of the industry is already reacting: Sony intends on launching its own music and video subscription service tonight.

According to a report by the Financial Times, Sony’s new service will launch on its PlayStation 3 video game console at first, and then gradually creep out to other Sony-brand, internet-connected devices like Sony Walkman players, Vaio computers, Bravia TVs and even Sony Ericsson mobile phones.

Sony’s not the only one setting up shop with a streaming media subscription service: Amazon is also apparently inking some deals right now to allow it to stream television shows and movies, speaking with NBC Universal, Time Warner, News Corp and Viacom.

It certainly seems like other companies think Apple’s got a big announcement up their sleeves for later today, and are scrambling to catch up.

[via 9to5Mac]