TL;DR:
50 inch iPad, called the "iTV", hand-in-the-air gesture-based input, 4K retina display, instant-on, runs iOS apps, videogames similar to XBox Kinect, sells for $999 unsubsidized but $699-ish subsidized by Comcast, no way to plug in any cable/satellite, content comes from cloud-based iTunes, subscription to Comcast guarentees quality internet connection and access to all the TV channels, fonts and webcontent resize based on distance you're sitting at, uses face recognition to tell if a visually impaired person is watching iTV and accordingly adjust font size and inverts the colors, voice recogntion of spoken letters obviates the need for a keyboard when typing in a URL, can run for 12 hours off of internal Li+ ion battery for setting up a presentation on-the-go, and more
So I'm gonna lay it all out right here. I'll say up front that I have no inside information at all; the purpose of this post is to be able to point back at this in 2012 and say "See, I can predict the future". Note the timestamp on this post.
The future:
-In January 2012, Apple will announce the iTV, their true television effort. Apple TV will be discontinued. Apple couldn't care less about any outstanding trademarks for the name.
-iTV is essentially a "big iPad", comes in two models: 50 inch and 37 inch.
-iTV is about as thin as today's iPad. It's less than half an inch.
-Resolution is "retina display" resolution such that when viewed even as close as 3 feet away, pixels cannot be discerned. 4K resolution (or more, or less. I'm too lazy to do the math).
-iTV will not accept any sort of cable or satellite connection. That's not the point. Apple is offering you a better alternative to your cable and satellite TV.
-Content will be offered by an iTunes subscription plan, which is $29.99 a month.
-TV shows and movies will stream live at 720p or 1080p, but when downloaded and cached it will playback at full 4K resolution. An industry first.
-iTV will run iOS apps. At this point, iOS will be resolution independent to allow for intelligent scaling to this 4K-ish resolution. But HIG guidelines will advise developers to rewrite their apps to fit the iTV experience.
-Input will not be based not on keyboard, mouse, nor trackpad. And nor will it be based on touch. Apple introduces touchless user input, another industry first.
-To skim through TV channels, put your hand in the air and wag it left and right. Then make a "stop" gesture (like a crossing-guard) to stop on HBO. Wag a couple fingers up and down to scroll through the TV shows offered by HBO, until you reach Curb Your Enthusiasm and make anoter "stop" gesture. Point at the TV or speak the word "play", and playback begins.
-iTV discerns voice commands from regular conversation by recognizing the users' faces, and establishing a "lock" on who is watching iTV by paying attention to the users eyes and facial orientation. When a user wants to make a voice command, a simple gesture like raising a finger (similar to "oh, excuse me, waiter?") before speaking the command.
-iTV costs $699 for the 37 inch model, and $999 for the 50 inch model. Why so cheap? Because it's "just a big iPad", and Apple has perfected the manufacturing process of iPads by 2012. Frankly, the thing will only cost $200 or $300 to make. Big-ass margins.
-People will buy the iTV to watch TV, but it's the web browsing and iOS apps that will keep them hooked. The media will call it "Minority Report on your TV". Search maps, browse photos, call up Yelp, etc. You know the drill.
-Web browsing will actually be made usable on a 50 inch screen 12 feet away by a unique font resizing algorithm invented by Apple. Since iTV is keeping track of faces and eyes, it'll smoothly resize the web page's font to a size that is considered readable at the distance the primary user is sitting. If the user gets up and walks toward iTV, the font will be resized accordingly, as well as the rest of the page. Think of double-tap to zoom in Mobile Safari, but applied to web content on a big screen that is far away. Another industry first.
-You don't need a keyboard to type URLs into iTV's Safari because you can just say the letters. For example, say "C-N-N-dawt-com...go" and CNN's site will load. Unfortunately, voice recognition in 2012 will only be advanced enough to perfectly understand letters well enough to be considered idiot-proof. Apple may still attempt to have iTV recognize spoken whole words, such as the name of TV shows at the very least.
-Members of the family with poor vision will be noted by iTV and facially recognized. Their baseline font size will be a little bigger to compensate for poor vision. And color-inversion for severely impaired vision. All scaling/switching on the fly via face recognition. Industry first.
-Video games. At 4K resolution. Will be controllerless, nearly exactly aping the XBox Kinect technology. Hardcore gamers will bitch, but casual gamers will flip out and love the fact that no extra video game console is required, the graphics are amazing, and no need for controllers or remotes. Apple will become a leader in the "console" gaming industry overnight, similar to it's current success in mobile gaming.
-Since iTV is "just a big iPad", when you turn on the television it's instant on because you're just waking the display. Instant-on just like the iPad.
-And since it's "just a big iPad", it'll actually run unplugged from a power source. The battery life is about 12 hours, enough to prop the thing up on a stand and use it to give big-ass presentations, with "Minority Report" gestures, at an expo or other public situations.
-By 2012, hopefully Apple has gotten it's **** together and made iTunes cloud-based. Buy once, play anywhere. Apple recommends plugging iTV into the internet via ethernet cable.
-Of course, if you're doing stuff on the iPad or iPhone, you can optionally beam content to iTV, similar to Intel's WiDi technology today that lets you stream your laptop's display wireless to your television for the purpose of watching internet video. iPad and iPhone can also be used as input for typing in URLs into iTV's Safari, but Apple will emphasize that peripherals are not needed for using iTV.
Bonus Prediction-Since iTV is a real bits-guzzler, Apple will negotiate a deal with Comcast (of all companies). Comcast will guarentee each subscriber a minimum threshold of internet connection quality so that streamed content doesn't look like crap. Plus Comcast will act as a go-between for Apple and the studios/networks. Since HBO is comfortable working with Comcast (but not with Apple), Comcast acts as the middle man so that Apple can finally have everybody's favorite TV shows. This finally solves the main problem of Apple TV today, namely the lack of breadth of content. This also subsidizes the cost of iTV so that the final price is $499 for 37 inch and $699 for the 50 inch. No I'm not kidding, yes I do honestly believe these subsidized price points are doable, yes these things will sell like hotcakes. Similar to AT&T today, Comcast will become everyone's favorite new whipping boy and will be the weakest part of the iTV experience since Comcast is out of Apple's direct control.
edit: forgot to add - some sort of wireless protocol, like Bluetooth 3.0 (or something that Apple home-brews) to allow for third-party wireless speakers. [Apple will make speakers too, but they'll be junky and overpriced.]
