Apple to offer own-brand HDTV, claims analyst
Integrated movie, music and games downloads
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 support for film, music and game downloads.
The Apple-branded set - not to be confused with the existing Apple TV set-top box - would wirelessly sync with iPods, iPhones and Macs, and “command a premium among a competitive field”, Munster said in a recent note to clients.
“Apple could differentiate itself with software that makes home entertainment simple and solves a pain point for consumers," he suggested.
In the run-up to the launch of its branded TV in 2011, Apple will unveil a range of TV-focused gadgets, Munster predicted. For example, he believes that a set-top box with TV input and integrated DVR could be launched within months.
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. ®
COMMENTS
In typical Apple tradition..
The remote will have one button.
LCD Quality
Thing is, Apple has always had problems with the quality of its LCDs... and TVs are 97% about the display.
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.......
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.
