Apple flat-screen TV to ship by holiday season?
Includes 'special' motion detection, 'unique' remote control
It's time for another rumor about Apple's long-buzzed-about flat-screen television – and here comes one, right on schedule: it'll ship in time for 2012's holiday shopping season.
"A holiday launch would make for a very merry holiday season for Apple and consumers," wrote Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White in an investment-research note, as reported by Forbes.
White was citing info he got from an article on the Chinese-language website 21cbh.com, which said that Sharp will supply Apple-gadget assembler Foxconn with LCD TV panels sooner than had been expected – soon enough to get Apple big-screen TVs into stores in time for the annual consumer-shopping feeding frenzy.
As The Reg mentioned on Wednesday, the chairman of Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai, Terry Gou, has confirmed that his company and Sharp reached a joint-venture deal this Monday, and that Sharp would build a new flat-panel TV line near Hon Hai's New Taipei headquarters.
Apparently that construction will zip along quite speedily, if White's sources are correct. A quick glance at the calendar shows that Q3 will arrive in less than two weeks.
Or, more likely, Sharp will produce flat-panel displays for the first run of the Apple television at another of its factories, and the New Taipei plant is being designed to ramp up shipments should the Apple-branded, Foxconn-assembled, Sharp-equipped big-screen take off.
"We believe the pieces are in place for a launch soon," White writes, "driving an entirely new $100 billion market opportunity or higher (given a higher [average selling price] at Apple), while further strengthening the company's digital grid and providing customers with a new TV experience."
White had a couple of other nuggets of info in his rumor bag: that the Cupertinian time-sucker would have "a special type of motion detection technology" and "a unique remote control with a touch panel form factor that looks similar to the iPad."
He also notes that the TV's "bezel is expected to be a plastic composition," and not aluminum as are the bezels of iMacs and MacBooks.
Or, for that matter – this being an unconfirmed rumor and all – it could simply be made entirely of hot air. ®
COMMENTS
Holiday season?
Do you mean next month when we Brits start our summer holidays? If you mean Christmas please say so. I hope the euphemisms of political correctness can be banished from El Reg for at least another ten years.
Unique remote control?
Am I the only one who imagined a remote control with only one button? OK, sorry, I'll be on my way then...
Re: Why?
Children's TV character: "Hi kids!" *waves*
Child: *waves back*
*TV switches off*
Re: Holiday season?
And in SF they don't have summer holidays for two reasons:
1. They don't have "summer"
2. They don't have "holidays", (i.e. Americans work too much)
Re: Why?
I used VideoKinect on the Xbox to chat to my family, and everytime we wave goodbye, it gives me control of the device. Whoever decided that the waving gesture should do that is an idiot. Would be far better to have a unique gesture that people are unlikely to do while talking to family on video (i can think of a few, but it depends on your family of course).
