Apple to offer own-brand HDTV, claims analyst

Sony, LG, Panasonic, Toshiba and Samsung are all firms you associate with TV sets. But from 2011 you’ll be adding a new name to the list: Apple, according to an outspoken analyst. Gene Munster, Senior Analyst at US-based investment bank Piper Jaffray, has predicted that Apple will launch a branded telly with integrated DVR and …

[Stacy]

Hmmmm

This would take some nerve - it's a very competitive, very mature market. Not like the digital music player at all...

The article also hints at Lowe / B&O level pricing rather than Sony / Panansonic / Samsung level pricing - but would the people who are interested in owning a Lowe / B&O - both of which are by words for expensive quality AV kit - even stop to look at an Apple which is unknown in the field...

Will be interesting to see how they make themselves standout if true...

Where oh where is the '?' I don't have a clue icon :)

[handle]

It'll sell

The chance to get an Apple logo prominently displayed on drooling fans' walls will mean it will sell like hot cakes. They won't even need to whip out their iPhones any more.

[David Webb]

Apple TV

If the iPhone is anything to go by, the Apple TV will go the following route:

Version 1: Lacking basic features like, TV channels, remote control, HDMI Input

Version 2: Adds HDMI input, still unable to receive TV channels

Version 3: Finally adds the ability to watch TV channels, but only those approved by Apple

Version 3S: Adds remote control

[Paul Charters]

Shares?

Has anyone checked if this chap has shares in Apple?

There seems to be an awful lot of anal-ysts just saying whatever they imagine 'might' happen in a few years these days.

[Shakje]

Presumably...

It'll cost £10k, have half the features that other TVs have, only allow pple approved channels, and blow up in your face if you look at it wrong.

[richard 69]

give me...

an apple tv box with twin freeview tuners and i'm there.

come on apple, get the freeview licence and do it. my humax 9200 is still one of my best purchases, but linking this with the itunes store would be superb!

[Bad Beaver]

Why?

There is no doubt Apple could turn out stunning TV sets. It is a super-crowded market though, full of firmly established brands catering to all possible consumer needs already. I would much rather believe in improvements to the existing AppleTV. As an add-on device, it offers all the "improved interface" benefits complete with syncy bells and whistles while still allowing you to choose whatever screen you like. But then I'm not an analyst, and I don't get paid for crystal-balling my way into the weekend.

[Paul Hates Handles]

Is it...

...the iWatch?

Will you have to wait for the second firmware update before you can change channels? :D

[martin burns]

AppleTV v3 -v- NextGen iMac

Presumably this will be an integration of the current AppleTV functionality with a big LED/LCD display: an all in one unit that has a glossy full HD display in 32" to 42" sizes with integrated computer running a version of Snow Leopard on a 160/240GB HDD to which you can buy/rent media from the iTunes Store, accessed through a dedicated UI and simplified remote.

Or, to put it another way, a whopping big iMac that only runs Front Row.

Sounds OK, as long as the price point is reasonably comparable with the separates option. And you can add an external HDD - AppleTV only starts getting fun once you have a terabyte drive (200 movies and 500 TV episodes is a great thing to have to hand without digging through DVD boxes).

[Anonymous Coward]

* speculates analyst

I think the title of this piece is missing an asterisk at the end.

[Anonymous Coward]

it'll only burst into flames

Apple - shit by design

[Bilgepipe]

*Wades Through Anti-Apple-'tards*

Boring anti-Apple tirades aside, this "analyst" is pulling theories out of the air based on Apple stating that they will continue to invest in Apple TV. Munster talks out of his arse, and this is no different.

[David Haworth]

appletv

I could believe that they'd bring out a bigger, better version of the appletv, supporting fullHD, lossless audio and other stuff, but I don't see an apple branded TV set being likely. they've got nothing to offer that's not done by the appletv device itself

dave

[jai]

can i have some of what he was smoking

Gene Munster's track record isn't exactly great.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Gene_Munster_%28Analyst%29

he's been right a few times, when he forecasts have been vauge enough

he's been wrong a few times

and sometimes he's been a bit right, and a bit wrong

those sort of odds smack of someone picking ideas out of the air at random

i can't believe these guys get paid for this rubbish and more so, i can't believe El Reg is reporting this guys random guesswork as fact

[SlabMan]

Wheel of Fortune

Apple 'analysts' must have something like a Tarot pack of predictions that they periodically shuffle and pick a card from. The Apple TV rumour comes and goes with regularity. What never appears is the Apple TV itself. It's about time we had some new Apple rumours.

To get the party started, an analyst (me - I'm just as qualified to spout nonsense as anyone else) predicts that Apple will shortly launch an Apple-branded line of thermal underwear for dolphins. He goes on to estimate that Apple will own 70% of a potential $10billion market by 2010. The new product will be most likely be known as iFlipper-todger-warmer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Analysts have a poor track record

These analysts never get it right. Expect a revised forecast before long.

[Anonymous Coward]

ah, but yes, but no?

well if they call it the iTV they would have a branding issue in the UK due that being the overall banner for the commerical networks!? Although upon recent performance Apple could probably buy ITV for a few greenbacks!?

as for the remote they wont sell you a remote, youll have to sign up for an iphone contract and then down loaf the ITV channel changing app, then the volume control app, the iTV schedule app etc.....

and whats with people still putting up with 160/240GB HDD capacties?

if its going to store you vast "media" collection it will need to be larger than this, unless of course this is just a temporary cache as you wont own everything you will just be "renting" it from the i-library?

i am sure it will look great however!

however, not sure how they could improve the userinteraction above and beyond the fairly mature moredl for TV usage? (hint: multi gesture control via touch screen isnt going to work on your 42 inches?)

as for pricing..... if its in Sony price range it will sell, if its in B+O price range surely even the fanbois would think twice? (or work out which grandmother to sell first?)

[martin burns]

apple tv box with twin freeview tuners??

@richard69

Google eyeTV wouldja.

Yes, it needs an external machine (I have a wee Mac Mini), but that has the benefit of being able to link up a *much* bigger external HDD that you'll need if you're recording and keeping any reasonable volume of TV.

My setup: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinb/2288928033/

[Dan 10]

Could work

My missus would not dream of running Media Center, Front Row etc, as all the buttons, menus, inputs, outputs etc would scare her. However, as she always says, I can install whatever tech I want so long as she can simply switch on and watch Eastenders etc with no fuss. She likes her iphone more than her previous phones, because she "doesn't have to be a geek to be able to use the thing to access the internet". I think Apple would be the right guys to pull this off in a way that non-tech people like my wife would appreciate. Apple know that the likes of me would buy it, on the basis that I'll be able to configure it to do cool stuff, and my wife will still be able to do simple stuff.

Go for it, Jobs!

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, sounds good!

At first I thought: ugh! No go! No way! but am warming to the idea.

DVR accessible via Mobile Me, stuff via iTunes, ...

But I am still of the view that a decent set top box (c'mon happel?) will do the business just as well with wider appeal.

[MarkOne]

You an only watch stuff on the iTune channel

and you can't watch your stuff on any other TV. It also looks and sounds inferior ro everyone else's TV's

[Richard 102]

Can't see it.

In the last decade or so, Apple either does something new, or gets into markets that are stagnant and limited and have devices that are mediocre at best. They didn't invent the MP3 player, but the iPod swarmed over the others because of its simple interface, easy-to-use software, ... then came smart playlists, the iTunes Store, photo, video, ... you know how it went. Ditto with the iPhone. Like it or not, it changed the playing field. People who would never before have even considered a smart phone, like my 70 year old parents, are considering an iPhone. Marketing? Maybe, but they also see the maps, some (to them) killer app, an easy-to-use interface, a simple way to take and make calls, ...

Now, HD TV? Sorry, don't see it. Unless there is some integration with the AppleTV, or that device gets embedded, ... Nah.

[Nick Miles]

Heard it before

Jason Calacanis talked about this almost a year ago, so this isn't exactly news.

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/natelanxon/0,139102300,49299275,00.htm

Calacanis: Apple to release networked HDTVs

...Love him or hate him, the bloke's got contacts, and he confirmed to me that he knew first-hand that Apple was working on a networked television. These LCD HDTVs will be fully networked, with the ability to stream all your iTunes content from your Mac or PC. In fact, Calacanis told me they'll function like a standard TV with an Apple TV box, only without the need for the box.

[Andy 70]

erm....

would this not just be an iMac with a HD screen, a couple of tuners, and frontrow or whatever installed?

bit of a generic leap to turn a computer into a TV... didn't they do this about a decade or so ago?

no doubt:-

1 - it'll be marketed as "the first"

2 - it'll be hailed as "the greatest"

3 - people in the street will be asking "why didn't anyone do this before?"

4 - everyone else will sigh dedgectedly.

5 - house prices will come down as the increase in thefts from propertys kick up a notch.

6 - 90% of those that have one, never actually use it to it's fullest extent. the technical equivilent of having your old VCR with the blinking 12:00.

paris, cos all it'll be good for is a fasion accessory, and probably just as flat.

[The Indomitable Gall]

iPass on this one....

"An iTunes TV Pass offering unlimited pay monthly access to the library’s content archives could also launch within 12 months, Munster said, effectively replacing a consumer’s monthly cable bill."

Unfortunately, as your cable operator is probably also your broadband supplier, this sort of thing would not discourage those very same "fair use limits" that have hobbled internet video distribution up till now.

It also wouldn't encourage said cable broadband providers to introduce differential pricing -- imagine selling someone something that makes your main money-making services obsolete. Not a sound business decision.

What's needed is a complete separation of carrier and content, so the carriers can make the efficiencies that are best for the consumer, rather than for the content provider....

[Frank Bitterlich]

Analysts...

Want to save a lot of $$$ in analyst salaries? Replace them with a very tiny PHP script...

foreach $imaginable_gadgets as $gadget {

printf("%s, analyst at %s, has predicted that Apple will offer a %s in %4d.",

random_name(),

random_institute(),

$gadget,

2009+rand(0,4)

);

}

A little cron job could take care to mail the output in a "Press Release" template, every five minutes or so...

With very little modification you could use this to create an "exploding iPod" report...:

$where = array("in my pants", "in my hand", "in bed");

$result = array("I lost an eye", "I'm scared of iPods now", "I can't wear socks any more");

$damages = pow(10, rand(5,9));

... and so on...

[Anonymous Coward]

@Bilgepipe

Interesting choice of Icon I guess I don't need to read your post....I predict its full of bile.

[Anonymous Coward]

I want!

There's another Apple product possibly coming out, with a feature set that hasn't been published because the device doesn't actually exist yet?

I want one now!

[Doc Spock]

Not a TV, but...

Apple are more likely to offer a cable-box / PVR replacement than a full-blown TV. It's not a huge stretch of the imagination to say the Apple TV could head in that direction.

Of course, here in backwards-Blighty, you're not allowed to use a 3rd party box with your cable/satellite card** so such a device would be a no-go here.

** Are you listening, Competition Commission?

[sleepy]

Daft idea

It makes no sense at all to me, but it's typical of the daft ideas analysts and pundits constantly spew. Far more likely Apple will sell something for existing TV makers to embed, wirelessly extending Apple-centric media delivery and UI. This would be something like the existing AppleTV box implemented as a system on a chip. Perhaps they'll even give it away to TV makers, although that is totally un Jobs-like.

[Anonymous Coward]

Dont forget:

Non replaceable power cord.

non standard connectors.

Wont show microsoft commercials.

Wont show topless anything.

[Stevie]

Bah!

"Command a premium".

Codespeek for "Cost half as much again as the most expensive model, while offering marginal gain in features".

No doubt it'll sell like hot...well, not cakes. Maybe hot iPods.

[Tony Smith]

@Richard 102

I dunno... look at it this way:

Mac = generic Intel PC hardware lifted above the herd by industrial design and software.

iPod = generic MP3 player hardware lifted above the herd by industrial design and software.

iPhone = generic ARM-based phone hardware lifted above the herd by industrial design and software.

Apple Telly = generic HDTV hardware lifted above the herd by industrial design and software.

I see a pattern here. It's a model that - like it or not - works and works successfully. Apple doesn't have to sell bucketloads - an Apple HDTV will never sell like a Sony or Panasonic TV will - it just has to make Apple money, which is what it's in business for.

It'd be easy to integrate an Apple TV into a Cinema Display. I can see this happening.

[Annihilator]

@David Webb

"Version 3S: Adds remote control"

Don't be silly - version 3S will come with a compass and leave the remote control for later. See www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuYkH60w4Ns for details

[martin burns]

Remote control

Kneejerkers above take note that Apple already provide a remote control as standard with all AppleTVs and iMacs (and maybe Mac Minis - can't remember). And iPhones/iPodTouches can be used as a remote out of the box.

Do at least *try* to pay attention at the back.

[Dustin 1]

It wouldnt be hard.

Many >$1000 TVs and >$200 Stereo head units these days include some basic digital convergence stuff. My TV has USB and will display slideshows of pics. I was oogling a new Pioneer head unit that has an ethernet port on it.... The only way a HD DVR concept would work for such an imagined Apple TV would be if they had cable card functionality. Including the equivilant of an eye phone for the guts with a new tegra processing bundle (ala Zune HD), a large Hard Drive, maybe 2 cablecards, large OLED display would mean a huge premium over other devices, but some people would snap it up, but quick. I personally want they display to be limited. It should show images that I feed it and thats it......

[martin burns]

Switch on and go..?

Worth pointing out that my 3-yo can operate our AppleTV, successfully picking Dora and Harry/Bucket of Dinosaurs from the 500 TV episodes we have available.

The interface is a bit different from Front Row, but not *very* different.

[andy 103]

Fix the AppleTV!!

Said it all before but theres a ton of things they could do to improve the appletv unit. Leave TV making to other people.

Specific improvements would be:

- Media support for most video formats, etc out of the box (never going to happen because it allows you to not use itunes, etc)

- Integrate a Freeview TV tuner and allow it to record to the HDD.

- Allow archiving of the freeview content back through the ethernet/wireless to a computer.

- Make use of that USB port for external hard disks.

- Smallest hard disk should be 200GB+

If they did that they'd be on to a winner, but it will never happen. In the UK that product has been a complete fail. Of course they've done well in other areas, but if their understanding of the UK TV market is really non-existent.

[rany]

Speculation is an understatement.

Speculation is an understatement for this article. The analyst's words are as if he was walking around in the factory and has seen the final product.

[B 9]

No way this will happen.

Jobs himself has said that they look for markets where they are unhappy with the current offerings and then design it so it works "right". There is upside to Apple getting into this market.

[Anonymous Coward]

In other news

Gene Munster farted twice and told passer-bys that Apple would create a smell-a-rama POD in two years. (He is clearly pulling the other stuff out of his Arse - why not a few more.)

Yeah I want some of what that dude is smoking.

[Anonymous Coward]

fgs

I was thinking the iTV but thats all ready taken.

[martin burns]

Pretty close

@Andy103

AppleTV already archives any content directly loaded to it (via iTunes store currently) back to the linked computer, wirelessly or via ethernet.

No-one (other than the tiniest of minorities) cares about formats - as long as it reliably records and plays back out of the box. 99.999% of the Sky+ owning population don't know or care what format that uses either.

Add your other 2 relatively simple things:

1) Connection of external drive (negates need for whacking huge internal drive)

2) Integrated DTV tuner (although you can *already* stick that on the linked computer - eyeTV for Macs is just a rebranded Hauppauge dongle with some scheduling + export to iTunes SW)

and it's there.

[TeeCee]

Here's how it goes.

1) Apple ship iTelly.

2) Sells like hot cakes.

3) iTunes video pwns the VOD market.

4) Sony, Toshiba etc. tweak their tellies to access iTunes video.

5) Apple move API goalposts to stop third parties poaching off iTunes.

6) The largest anticompetitive practice class action suit of all time from all the major consumer electronics manufacturers, with all the TV / Cable / Telecoms companies taking a brief, sues Apple into administration.

7) Apple relaunched as a computer company, divested of all the silly "non core business" stuff that got 'em into the shit in the first place.

They may be able to play silly B's with Palm, but some of these boys have deep pockets, big nasty legal teams and will be fighting for their very lives.......

[Brian]

In typical Apple tradition..

The remote will have one button.

[Bill Fresher]

LCD Quality

Thing is, Apple has always had problems with the quality of its LCDs... and TVs are 97% about the display.