Thoughts on Apple in the television space
... Misek anticipates that Apple will launch its television set in the 42"-55" size range with prices starting around $1500. ...
Here's my silly wild-a** prediction (asterisks mine) about what Apple could do with a big-screen device. Notice that I didn't say "Apple television."
First, some preliminaries:
1. I don't think Apple wants to make yet another cookie-cutter cable-ready TV set with internet connectivity. Been done a million times already, by low-cost competitors, and Apple won't just make a "shinier" one of the same old thing. Yes, the original iPod was shinier and had a better control mechanism than any of the other MP3 players available in 2001. But it was the iTunes infrastructure that helped it dominate. Speaking of which...
2. I do think that Apple will leverage its entire ecosystem, hardware and software, along with its content delivery infrastructure. They'll use all of that to the fullest in whatever they're planning to do in the TV industry. (A side benefit being that it's impossible to copy Apple's massive ecosystem + infrastructure overnight, which will give Apple a huge time-to-market lead over any would-be competitors.) And part of that software ecosystem would be Siri, of course.
3. I do think that the key to whatever Apple does in the television industry is already here: Apple TV in the form of the current hockey puck and/or the circuit board inside it embedded in a large-screen device (which I am still not calling an "Apple television.") The Apple TV has, more or less, the same components and OS as iPhone and iPad. In other words, it's a tiny computer already, and that's all that's necessary in terms of processing power and flexibility. In my humble opinion.
So, given all of the above, I'd guess that Apple could do any of the following, in increasing order of risk:
Upgraded hockey puck: Apple could simply add a microphone for Siri commands and possibly an iSight camera for gesture-based control and biometrics to the Apple TV hockey puck and update its OS to handle apps.
The cost of the hockey puck might go up a little, but it would still be cheaper, smaller, and more energy-efficient than any past / present / future Xbox, for example. Fairly easy to do, low risk, and maybe the old non-Siri / non-biometrics hockey puck could be kept around at a lower price. Because, as time goes on, Apple will want to attract as many users to iCloud as possible, and a cheaper Apple TV box could be just the Trojan Horse to do that. (Maybe even free eventually, if users are willing to put up with the occasional iAd.)
Big-a** Cinema Display: OK, let's say Apple works out all the kinks in Sharp's advanced-OLED IGZO-based large-screen production process. And let's say they can produce 42" to 60" screens at a fairly competitive price with a decent profit margin. Well, all they'd need to do is add an iSight camera and microphone to the display, update the existing Apple TV box to receive data from the display's camera and mic, and add gesture recognition / biometrics to its version of iOS (unless the iPhone/iPad version of iOS already has that by then.)
The Apple TV could work with any TV set with HDMI input, but you'd be stuck with the Apple Remote or iOS Remote app. Or you could plug in the Apple TV to the big display, with camera and mic, and enjoy the big display's value add: Siri / gesture control plus biometrics to recognize individual users in the room. The hardware cost of the big display would be lower than that of an actual TV set with that exact same display panel. Because there would be no over-the-air tuner, cable-ready hardware, or built-in internet access or CPU. You'll get the content that the hockey puck gives you. (And maybe the big display will only have a Thunderbolt input, so you couldn't drive it with your DirecTV HDMI output.)
Embedded Apple TV in Big-a** Cinema Display: This is the riskiest because it would really be a whole new product line. No, technically it's not hard at all. The Apple TV circuit board is tiny. It will fit in an extremely slim display with no problem. The thing would be a giant Cinema Display with an Apple TV circuit board in it somewhere.
But does Apple really want to go toe-to-toe with the existing TV set manufacturers? They're already in their own consumer electronics race-to-the-bottom. And look how well that went in, say, the Netbook space.
Maybe Apple will do all three of the above. Start out with an enhanced hockey puck, see how it goes. If it goes well, they could ship an optional big-screen Cinema Display for it later, then see how it goes. And maybe they could eventually build the Apple TV circuit board into the Cinema Display. And they would never be shipping an actual "Apple television set."