Apple to kick start 'iTV' production in Q2
2-5m units pipelined, reckons analyst
Apple will start punching out 2-5m so-called 'iTVs' during the latter part of Q2, one financial analyst has forecast.
Peter Misek, an analyst with US stockbroker Jeffries, told investor clients this week that he believes the companies making the display units have already started receiving core components, albeit in small numbers.
But, crucially, the shipments have begun and that, Misek reckons, points to full-scale production commencing in the May-June timeframe and ramping up volumes from then on.
He expects 2-5m units to be produced, Business Insider reports.
That, in turn, will allow stocks to accumulate - and manufacturing and part glitches to be trapped - in time for a Q4 launch, Misek thinks.
That timeline aligns with recent rumours that Apple will launch a subscription-based streaming service in the run-up to Christmas.
Even if these two product offerings are not directly related, we think Apple would be daft not to enter the TV business. The potential is there to shift way more units that it ever will with its Apple TV set-top box, and with Apple's proven design, UI and content sales skills, it has a strong proposition. It may not sell as many sets as Samsung or Sony, but it can make a mark. ®
COMMENTS
Not for the UK market, obviously
at least if they want to call it an iTV, unless they want to lose an expensive legal battle with the 'real' ITV
Re: Not for the UK market, obviously
They're not going to call it ITV when it's already called Apple TV. It's just lazy journalism
Re: This seems odd, to me.
>> "Taking on established incumbents in a price-sensitive market like TVs just isn't their style,"
You mean, like they did with the iPod in the MP3 Player market and the iPhone in the Smartphone market?
Sure, in retrospect it may seem like these were emerging markets that were completely re-invented. However, when they entered these, the view from outside was that they were attempting to compete with entrenched players, such as Creative Labs and Nokia.
Perhaps in five years you'll look back and recognize the "Smart/Internet TV" as an emergent market that nobody knew how to handle properly until Apple came along.
Then again, the "iTV" may flop.
-dZ.
Always emerging?
It would be difficult to argue that the MP3 player; the MP3distribution channel; and the tablet computer were emerging technologies when Apple entered those markets. They had all been around for some time and not demonstrated significant growth. What Apple did, highly successfully, was make them work seamlessly for people who didn't want complexity and ambiguity.
This seems odd, to me.
Apple has a well-tried, extremely successful business model that involves taking an emerging technology, kicking it into shape, and storming the market to establish a big and loyal following before anyone else has had a chance to get established. This pretty much describes all of their successful products to date, with the possible exception of the laptop range.
Taking on established incumbents in a price-sensitive market like TVs just isn't their style, and I can't see why they would want to. The only possible reason I can see for this is that they have developed something genuinely revolutionary and ground-breaking technologically that will completely change how we watch TV, and with all due respect to their massive cadre of engineers and huge patent portfolio, this also isn't their style, generally. And, also, I don't think that "watching TV" is an activity that is amenable to such changes, really.
Still, we shall see.
GJC
