This is what i want apple to do:
1. make it beautiful. most flat screens are unattractive, with the exception of samsung's thin edge to edge tv. it's interesting that brian williams mentioned it.
2. no cables except for a power cord.
3. a full blown cable provider, with ala cart service. i get to watch any old tv show, and new programs become available when they air. I need to stream live content. this subscription can cost me a little more than a cable bill, thats fine.
4. full integration with icloud.
5. facetime, email, youtube, notes, calander, and other apps, etc.
-facetime alone will sell millions of tv's, to families with distant relatives, hip corporations (designers, architects, music/video people, rich exes). Remember that video conferencing has been possible for a long time, but it hasn't been easy to set up, and the hardware hasn't been ubiquitous enough. i find i'm doing it more and more on my phone. i do think it has a major place in the future. Tim Cook's Jetson's vision.
6. intuitive os. it can suggest shows i might like, and a great tv schedule that is easy to navigate.
7. i don't care about siri, unless it works flawlessly. otherwise it's awkward, frustrating, and it open's apple up to public criticism. s also don't need any gesturing.
8. a touch remote with a fingerprint sensor (or face recognition), so it knows who i am, and i don't have to log in to my account / setting / apps etc. interesting that apple recently bought a fingerprint sensor company.
9. a fast enough processor and enough memory in the tv to hold several accounts for all the members of a typical family.
10. something that i didn't know i can't live without.
This would be the most incredible product. It seems nearly impossible, but so did the iphone. Perhaps they should sell both a tv, and a set-top box.
The cost will be the price of a nice tv + the price of a mac mini. So $3000.
Apple could offset this with profits from content. But they love they're hardware profits. So my guess is $2800 for a 50" tv. And maybe just $700 for a box that you can connect to any tv.
The last major hurdle will be internet speeds, not sure how they'll solve that. Google is working on it in Kentucky with a fiber optic build out.
When will all this happen? I would bet its 5 years out. But Tim is already dropping hints, so who knows.