Apple TV surfaces on Best Buy
Spec leak - or fishing expedition?
US electronics retailer Best Buy has begun asking punters if they'd be interested coughing up $1499 for a 42in HD TV from Apple.
A customer survey form reprinted by the Verge pitches the notion of a 42in, 1080p LED-backlit telly running iOS. The telly, the form suggests, might provide access to iTunes downloads and rentals, and run apps from there too.
Source: Verge
It would have an integrated webcam for Skype, and Apple's iCloud would provide an online content locker.
The device could be controlled by any iDevice.
There's nothing here to suggest that Best Buy knows anything World+Dog doesn't. The retailer appears to be trying to get a handle on what demand there might be for such a product.
Best Buy's spec is essentially nothing more than a regular telly with an Apple TV set-top box built in. The notion of a webcam hasn't come up in Apple telly rumours before, but it's not without precedent. Nothing in the Best Buy description could be hyped up as revolutionary.
COMMENTS
$1499 for a 42" TV?
2005 called, they want their flatscreen TV prices back.
Oh good, more re-invention...
"Apple finally reinvents what a TV can do"
Oh good, I'm glad they worked out how to do things I've been doing for years on my decidedly normal 1920x1080 Samsung and HTPC.
If true all they have done is taken a Apple TV box, built it into an average screen (it'll probably be reflective so crap in sunlight) and made a remote control app of the time that's existed for ages from other vendors. Sorry but even comparative simpletons can do more by simply attaching their laptop via HDMI, I see very little point in any kind of "smart" TV, it's all slow and limited.
If only someone would just make a TV line that focussed on screen quality and connectivity ONLY, no stupid "smart" stuff or photos off my crappy USB stick garbage, it just gets in the way for those of us who attach a HTPC/Laptop/Tablet and get more features.
Skype?
It runs Microsoft Skype, as opposed to Apple's FaceTime? That sounds a bit fishy...
Upgrade cycle?
Will people want to upgrade their TV as much as their phones / iPads?
True to form
"Nothing in the Best Buy description could be hyped up as revolutionary"
Isn't that the norm for Apple Products?
