Reports of 50" Apple Television in Jonathan Ive's Lab as Talk Heightens Ahead of CES

<<"We do not discount what they are going to do in the space -- they are going to come on strong," says [Microsoft general manager of content acquisition and strategy Ross] Honey.>>


No shi#* Sherlock, thanks for that update!

Come on Strong as they kicked your booty in OS, Music, Tablet, Mobile pPhone, App Store Spaces strong??

My lord..........These MS guys are goofs on a good day.

bbeagle said:

I don't get this line of thinking.

You can currently get a 50" TV for anywhere between $400 Vizio and $2000 Sony. Apple will undoubtedly use a more expensive TV with much better parts, add $200 to the cost of it for the integration of Apple TV, and charge that.

When the Apple television set for $2200 comes out, people will claim it's the same as the $400 Vizio TV with an $1800 'apple tax', when that is the furthest from the truth.

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iPad was rumoured to be $1000, when it was released $499

I wouldn't expect this to be cheaper than the current Thunderbolt display though.

useless on a world wide scale. They will never get the rights and if they do a one time only view of an ep will be something redic like 2,99€

i dont like the idea of siri on a tv either, i already can talk to my xbox but i never use it. Tv is the only time of the day where i can just sit there and shut up. Just think about it, would u rather flip the channels with a remote or "think" about what u wanna say

and omg is apple gonna sue samsung for using a widescreen shaped tv with a black bezel too?

JonneyGee said:

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I don't get why Microsoft is listed as one of the companies feeling threatened by this move. They're not in the home electronics/TV market. Is it just that they want Apple to fail? Do they feel this somehow threatens their share in the PC marketplace? I can see how the iPad is a threat to PCs, but who will replace a computer with a TV?

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Are you not paying attention to the trend going on with the XBox?

Apple is terrible at delivering media or publishing content. Apple TV rental have stagnated in terms of getting other stations on board, and their movie content is vastly inferior to most other competitors. It's the same for book and magazine content. The only thing they excel at in terms of media is music.

An Apple full TV will be successful no doubt because of crazy Apple fanboys rushing to everything they put out as well as excellent marketing, but as an inovative product it will be vastly inferior to existing products. Siri is useless on my phone and will be even more irritating on my TV. My PS3 is vastly superior to any iOS apps that will be on the Apple TV and my cable television and movie content will be vastly suprior to anything Apple can negotiate.

They have enough market power to force this thing to be successful, and as such others will have to follow, but it will be DISRUPTIVE to the current advancement in TV's and content, as move it more in a sideways direction rather than pushing forward, I DO NOT welcome their entry into this marketplace.

Tony

Each and every one of my children have at some stage or other taken toys, pens, even remote controls to our television set. Whilst the set cost £600 2 years ago, I didn't mind too much BUT if I pay £1,500 for an Apple TV, I am not going to want the kids anywhere near it. Which will make it a niche product for the few and probably restricted to home cinema rooms. The living room is for living and those with kids, I am sure will concur that a £1,500 tv set is not going to be top of our agenda. Happy with my current Apple TV set-up so it will have to be a seriously disruptive technology improvement to make me part with that much cash for the living room...IMHO

meh no thanks. i already have a cheap vizio hdtv with an acer revo htpc attached to it. XBMC + utorrent + RSS automatic downloader running on it is all i need.

Apple is going to have to be seriously competitive on price to shift these, it's fair enough entering a market where there is little real competition and there are few alternatives, but LG, Samsung and Sony (to name but a few) know what they're doing.

So Infinite Loop's resident Englishman secures himself a mammoth iTelly just as news breaks that Apple may be trying to get the rights to stream the football?

Can't be a coincidence.

All they really need to do is take an ordinary television set, hook up an AppleTV behind it, slap a noticeable Apple logo on it, and release an awesome commercial to advertise it. Add Siri in the 2.0 model for additional sales.

kavika411 said:

A senior executive of one of the world's largest companies has [wait for it] a TV in his office.

This is bigger than all of us.

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And since he is not just any senior executive, but the chief designer, there is a good chance that he removed all the Samsung stickers from his TV and replaced them with Apple stickers, and removed all the stickers from his microwave and replaced them with Apple stickers as well, just for fun. And he owns the only Death Star that isn't made from Lego bricks but from Apple bricks

Jaffa Cake said:

So Infinite Loop's resident Englishman secures himself a mammoth iTelly just as news breaks that Apple may be trying to get the rights to stream the football?

Can't be a coincidence.

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That was in Ive's employment contract. Clause 137: "Should employee receive a knighthood then company will supply him with streamed Premier League football matches". Which he will watch on his Samsung TV with Apple stickers.

samcraig said:

...unless it's first tested at a bar

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I can see the news. "Apple employee goes to a bar, loses his 50" TV".

NutsNGum said:

Apple is going to have to be seriously competitive on price to shift these, it's fair enough entering a market where there is little real competition and there are few alternatives, but LG, Samsung and Sony (to name but a few) know what they're doing.

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What's funny is I remember reading this exact argument when the iPhone was released and running up to the 2010 iPad release.

Jaffa Cake said:

So Infinite Loop's resident Englishman secures himself a mammoth iTelly just as news breaks that Apple may be trying to get the rights to stream the football?

Can't be a coincidence.

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It's so he can watch something less boring.

JonneyGee said:

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I don't get why Microsoft is listed as one of the companies feeling threatened by this move. They're not in the home electronics/TV market. Is it just that they want Apple to fail? Do they feel this somehow threatens their share in the PC marketplace? I can see how the iPad is a threat to PCs, but who will replace a computer with a TV?

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There are 60million boxes sitting under televisions across the globe that already have the power to stream content in the way that's being described. They're called Xbox 360s and they are made by Microsoft.

I'm intrigued to see how Apple differentiates itself. It can only be through content and/or a vastly improved user experience.

bbeagle said:

...The reason to get the TV instead of using the Apple TV device with your own TV would be that the new Apple hardware TV would have a built-in Apple TV unit that comes up when the TV is turned on and no source-changing is necessary, and only one remote control is needed.

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I'd recommend the Logitech Harmony One. . . it works with everything, and you can set it up to turn on any type of activity.

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Unless Apple drops the AppleTV2 or doesn't allow certain services on the AppleTV that it plans on bringing to the "iTV", I don't see much value in spending the extra money for an Apple branded TV. We'll have to see how much they can differentiate themselves here.

I suppose the added Siri functionality would be nice, but as many people with an xbox kinect will tell you, if you have a room full of people shouting different things at the screen, this will be very annoying.

AppleTV2 is such a great deal, I really hope they don't get rid of it.

NutsNGum said:

Apple is going to have to be seriously competitive on price to shift these, it's fair enough entering a market where there is little real competition and there are few alternatives, but LG, Samsung and Sony (to name but a few) know what they're doing.

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Just like when they introduced iPhone huh?

They will show the damn thing, it will kick ass in terns of user experience and features (features that actually work) and they will sell ******** of them. That's what's goin down.

Exactly what does an Apple television even do that couldn't also be done with any HDTV and some new Apple device connected to it? There just isn't any reason for this product to exist at all. They need to make the ATV3 awesome. And then they're done. Television market covered. Building the ATV3 into a screen just jacks up the price of the ATV3 for no reason and makes it less compelling because you are stuck with Apple's screen sizes.

And, for the record, even 50" is way too small. Aren't Apple fans traditionally considered well off, or at least, not poor? I have a 52" in the living room now and a 120" projection in my theater room. There is no place for some tiny Apple televion, and the 50", while not tiny, would be a downgrade for a lot of normal people, much less Apple people.

If this ever happens it better be ATSC (US HDTV right?) and DVB(-T2) compatible... like the iPhone the TV should be a world TV.

PBG4 Dude said:

What's funny is I remember reading this exact argument when the iPhone was released and running up to the 2010 iPad release.

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the difference is that most people dont buy a new tv every 2 years or so which means they'll have some serious confincing to do for current hdtv owners and not every household has/needs 3 or more tvs unlike an ipad or an iphone maybe

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but a more serious question, will it be able to use hdmi (BLU RAY cough cough) or some new stand alone connection bs as usal

PBG4 Dude said:

What's funny is I remember reading this exact argument when the iPhone was released and running up to the 2010 iPad release.

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But there was little to no real competition in either of those markets for the sort/quality of device that Apple was producing. Even now, it's debatable whether or not there is.

This is not the case with televisions. There are well-established brands that will provide quality sets at relatively low prices that last.

I'm sure they'll look brilliant, but so do the Samsung LED Smart TVs with the razor thin aluminium bezel, and if the only real differentiating features are Siri and an HD FaceTime camera, then that, for me, isn't going to be worth the (likely) premium.

JonneyGee said:

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The Samsung EyeTeeVee!

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No, after GALAXY comes UNIVERSUM

Also, since they asked Steve Wozniak, why not ask Steve Ballmer (Now there is a man with his finger on the pulse of what is going on.) what he thinks and Steve Martin, and Steven Wright etc.?

Apple should try to be a content provider...Thoughts?

They can start small, with a few QUALITY tv shows. Then maybe bait the other players in this industry to join up.

NutsNGum said:

But there was little to no real competition in either of those markets for the sort/quality of device that Apple was producing. Even now, it's debatable whether or not there is.

This is not the case with televisions. There are well-established brands that will provide quality sets at relatively low prices that last.

I'm sure they'll look brilliant, but so do the Samsung LED Smart TVs with the razor thin aluminium bezel, and if the only real differentiating features are Siri and an HD FaceTime camera, then that, for me, isn't going to be worth the (likely) premium.

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Further - the purchase lifecycle for a phone is FAR different than a TV.

People don't "upgrade" their TVs on a 1-2 year cycle. And since people have different spaces - if Apple only offers limited sizes and one "style" - that won't necc appeal to many people who have space/style requirements.

You can't compare Apple producing a TV against products like the iPod, iPhone, etc.

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JonneyGee said:

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I don't get why Microsoft is listed as one of the companies feeling threatened by this move. They're not in the home electronics/TV market. Is it just that they want Apple to fail? Do they feel this somehow threatens their share in the PC marketplace? I can see how the iPad is a threat to PCs, but who will replace a computer with a TV?

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Uh, Xbox and windows media center are both products competing in the same space. Just because they don't make the display doesn't mean they aren't in direct competition

flynndean said:

There are 60million boxes sitting under televisions across the globe that already have the power to stream content in the way that's being described. They're called Xbox 360s and they are made by Microsoft.

I'm intrigued to see how Apple differentiates itself. It can only be through content and/or a vastly improved user experience.

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It'll be the usual Apple fare. One device with a sleek, thin design, and an elegant iOS style interface. All the content you want, delivered to you without any hassle or extra cords.

And it'll all seem well and good, until you see they didn't include any HDMI or other input jacks on the thing. So just like Apple, they'll make a fantastic television set, then make sure you're locked right the hell in.