Analyst Believes Apple Television Set Already in 'Full Production', Launch Timeframe Unclear

[ctdonath]

How can the stockroom of an apple store handle dozens of 50-60 inch LCDS?

Answer:

I don't think you realize how thin TVs have gotten.

With creative packaging, a dozen screens could be as little as two feet deep.

And someone should watch for FedEx/UPS ramping up for large-scale long-term deliveries for a mysterious customer. "Would you like us to deliver that for you?" solves a lot of retail store issues.

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how close would you need to sit to this TV to even see the resolution improvement?

www.engadget.com/media/2006/12/resolution_chart.jpg

 

[DakotaGuy]

How can the stockroom of an apple store handle dozens of 50-60 inch LCDS?

How will the customer carry said TV from the interior of a mall to their car way out in the parking lot?

Sears has been selling things like ginormous french door refrigerators out of mall stores for years. I wonder how they do it? I certainly think Apple can figure out how to stock some TV's and get them to people's vehicles. They might even offer delivery... who knows? By the way the last 55" LG LED TV I purchased was in a very thin box. It really wasn't that big and fit in the back of my Ford Escape with the seat folded down.

 

[ctcampbell]

An easy way to tell that this 'analyst' has no clue what he is talking about: it won't be called iTV given that ITV is a major channel in the UK and they are never going to let Apple license their trademark.

 

[haddman]

I just hope it's compatible with DirecTV, or at least compliments it. There is now way I could forsee giving up DirecTV and the NFL package. Now if apple could include DirecTV channels and sports packages we would have a real winner here!

 

[BrianMojo]

You won't see a full Apple TV 'set' until Apple secures the content deals. That's what's really stopping them from turning the 'hobby' into a 4th leg of their stool.

They want to revolutionize the experience but they can't do that if they don't have the ability to give you the shows in a new way. Until then they'll keep edging in with the current AppleTV.

 

[Peace]

A thought just occurred to me.

A couple of months ago Comcast did away with it's broadband caps. They said they were testing and re-evaluating how it works.

I wonder if Apple and Comcast have reached and agreement and they are testing it in a couple of closed session markets.

 

[Macman45]

If it has Thunderbolt....I'll buy it.

I've just bought a new Sony, but need a new TV for my bedroom...The thunderbolt concept won't happen I don't think, but the price rumour isn't too bad...Puts it on a par with most 40+" 3D tv's available now. I might bite.

 

[alent1234]

I've been saying this for months. The bread-and-butter Apple consumer doesn't want to wait and there's simply no way an Apple Store can handle boxes like this, there's simply not room.




Those companies that do have large stock-rooms. Look in the back of a Best Buy. The warehouse is probably 25-40% of the size of the floor space and MOST of it is TV's. Now go look at the back of an Apple Store. Some Apple Stores are already maxed out on storage space between iMacs and laptops, there's simply no way they could fit TV's.

The only viable solution they could do for this at retail is have it simply be a show room and the rest is order online and have it delivered, which unless they're paying for next-day on everything isn't particularly "Apple."

UPS already has a warehouse business for their delivery customers. apple will just preposition the TV's at their hubs for easy shipment around the USA. with the the amount of business they give UPS they should have no trouble working out a low fee

 

[kralnor]

Unless have learned to produce and sell at a competitive price point with other "smart" TVs no one is going to buy into this.

Also, will expect me to rush out and buy a new TV every couple of years because the "updates" to its iOS are only available on new sets ?

I don't think s iOS device or even laptop business model is applicable to items that most people only buy two or three of in a life time , like TV sets.

people only buy 2 or 3 TV sets in lifetime? I've already beat that by a long shot

 

[Johnny Vegas]

Is anyone else worried that these TV's will be sold like phones? Subsidized pricing on new TVs with a two year contract for content...

 

[kralnor]

An easy way to tell that this 'analyst' has no clue what he is talking about: it won't be called iTV given that ITV is a major channel in the UK and they are never going to let Apple license their trademark.

Don't worry, the judge will probably side with Apple.

 

[Peace]

Is anyone else worried that these TV's will be sold like phones? Subsidized pricing on new TVs with a two year contract for content...

Not gonna happen. That would kill of any TV sales.

I think the deals with AT&T and Verizon is for their cable,DSL and FIOS offerings.

Of course there is the new h.265 standard coming out.

 

[Small White Car]

Not everyone has money to waste on a new TV every couple of years. Some people buy them to last 5 or so years. Only buying a new one when there is a problem with the one the currently have.

My 1st TV cost $50.

My 2nd one cost $1,100 and is currently in it's 6th year.

I'm 31 years old and those are the only 2 TVs I've owned in my life. So...yeah, you nailed me. I'm super extravagant!

If all that is true exactly how close would you need to sit to this TV to even see the resolution improvement? Even with a 55" right now at 1080p you have to be fairly close to see any difference over 720p. Would this TV really be noticeably better at normal viewing distances or would it just be sold on hype?

I don't have an answer to that other than to say that all the previous articles we've read about such things were using motion video as their sample which is quite different than text in an e-mail.

So, yes, I'd like to know as much as you do, but there may not be many good resources for people having experimented with this kind of thing.

 

[Leonard1818]

LOL....so said many people several times about other products. Yet, no coffin.... Hmmmmm

If there is a coffin, I hope it's a teardrop design and not just a longer version of the last coffin.

 

[GuitarDTO]

I'll say this....if you've bought into the Apple ecosystem already (my wife and I own an iPhone, iPad, and Macbook pro), and this TV can somehow tie it all together with the cable/TV world AND have a killer picture/screen built into it, there is definitely a market. I will be due for a new TV in the next couple of years and am waiting anxiously to see what this brings.

 

[sclawis300]

This would be a nice "One more thing . . ."

when is the last time we actually heard 1 more thing? I don't think I have ever personally heard it in 4 years. Maybe I am wrong though.

 

[KindredMAC]

2" thick????

OH JESUS!
I was wondering why all you guys were flaming me on 1" thick!
I mistyped and hit TWO instead of the ONE!

I'll go edit my original post now...

oy... glad it's Friday.

 

[kralnor]

I would much rather seeing them creating a killer ATV box and a new content distribution system than another TV set.

All I really want to see them do is have an app store for the current ATV to try to at least beat the amount of stuff I have access to on my Roku, which currently puts the aTV to shame.

I don't see how much better a content distribution system can get, for my needs at least, than "pay for the show you want, watch it whenever you want, as many times as you want" rather than "pay $100s of dollars each month to a cable company for 1000s of shows you never watch."

When I heard they were going into talks with cable companies, my interest dipped greatly, assuming all their doing is creating a new front-end and a DVR like many bloggers are repeating. Although I still would like a pretty Apple TV in my living room.

 

[AZREOSpecialist]

IF Apple is going to sell an actual TV, it will only be compelling if Apple provides some sort of "killer" integration of your other iOS devices and gives us a must-have experience that is not available anywhere else. Short of this, it will be a bomb.

 

[69650]

Don't get why they need to partner with Verizon and AT&T for this? What do they bring to the party? I can't imagine they have the bandwidth capacity to stream TV over the 4G network.

 

[lazard]

so a couple hundred bucks premium for a Sharp tv with an Apple logo on it.

 

[ericinboston]

Apple has been opening large data centers left and right for the past 5 years....and? What gives?

The sizes of these datacenters would allow me to guess that Apple has HUNDREDS of petabytes of raw storage across all the datacenters that have been opening the past 5 years...that certainly couldn't be filled up with the iClouders of the world and iTunes/apps. iClouders get 5GB free and then it's $20/year for 15GB total or $40/year for 25GB or $100/year for 55GB. Even if 100,000 people signed up for the free account that would be 500,000GB or 500TB of storage Apple would have to supply...which would only cost Apple about $50,000 to $200,000 in raw storage costs. If 1 million people used the free 5GB that would be a pricetag range of $500,000 to $2million.

Although we haven't heard more info on exactly what Apple is making for $1200, I think it will be very hard for Apple to convince people to:

1)throw away their current HD tv

2)cut their cable tv service and then push everything through the ISP internet pipes which would likely increase their bandwidth by 10x and thus ISPs will not be happy

3)pushing HD through an ISP requires a lot better service than the average 5Mbit-10Mbit downstream promised connection that 90% of USA residents pay for...it realistically requires 25Mbit and faster which of course the ISPs charge you quite a bit more for that tier of service

4)if the Apple tv device is going to be wireless, you'd better have a great router to push hours of high speeds to your TV and also supply the computer that mom is using upstairs. Otherwise you will likely want ethernet and want it to be CAT 5e or CAT6.



I am excited to see what Apple unveils and how it compares to ATV already. But I think the Apple tv is going to have to excel in picture quality and input/output ports as well as Apple's software service.

 

[terraphantm]

Of course, but I haven't bought a 60" HDTV from them and had it shipped through couriers that are notorious for abusing packages.

The last time I decided to throw caution to the wind and make an expensive purchase online, I ended up with a pricey guitar that was dropped off of a truck and had a smashed headstock. It took several weeks to get it sent back and receive a new unit. Good thing I'm not a touring artist, huh?

You realizes best buy and others also typically offer delivery right? I personally don't own a car large enough to transport a TV, so I have to get it delivered

I ordered my current plasma (58" Panasonic vt25) through amazon. They came in a truck similar to what the best buy guys use (not FedEx/ups). They carried the TV upstairs, set it up, disposed of the trash, and were on their way. The TV was several hundred dollars cheaper than at best buy, the delivery service was pretty much the same (these days they all come from 3rd party distribution centers), and the service cost me nothing on top of the tv itself.

 

[Dinø]

Senna was the BEST!!

 

[BSben]

Don't worry, the judge will probably side with Apple.

This might not be working out that way, Microsoft dropped the name Metro from Windows 8, because of a German retailer. ITV was successful before (Apple TV), so I think the name iTV is more than unlikely for Apple's device would it enter the global market.
I have a feeling though, that this device might be US only as the TV market is different in every country.
In quite a few european countries cable TV is quite small and satellite TV is much bigger. In some digital terrestrial is a big player, too many standards, too many players, I don't think Apple want to invest in all those small markets.
Personally I think Apple are about 30 years late to enter this market on a global scale. As I have no clue whatsoever about the US market, they might have a good chance there.