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Apple to Launch 3 HDTV Models by March 2012?

fpnc said:
I doubt that Apple is going to introduce their own TVs. IMO, if this does happen it probably means that Steve Jobs is no longer calling the shots at Apple. TVs are a low margin business and Apple has no first-mover advantage in this market.

The only possible advantage to an Apple-branded TV would be if Apple can seamlessly integrate a super-enhanced version of the existing Apple TV box within the TV itself. Well that's pretty obvious, but it would have to be really groundbreaking in design and features, not just the current Apple TV + display.

In order to create a really revolutionary product Apple would have to forge new agreements with the content providers and cable TV operators which is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Thus, I call this rumor and all of the previous Apple TV rumors (which go back for years and years) pure, unadulterated bunk.
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I agree.

Apple has always sold every single one of their products in their stores. How are they going to fit Apple televisions into their stores. They simply won't. And if they tried, they'd have to expand and end up having larger storage space just for their television lines... not happening.

Apple has:

Apple computers (laptops & desktops)
Apple tablets (iPad)
Apple cellphones (iPhone)
Apple MP3 players (iPod)

And a few other things (Apple tv, Apple accessories... and idk what else I missed).

While a television line isn't farfetched, it doesn't seem to make complete sense.

I could see Apple releasing an "Apple e-reader" of some sort. That's the sort of product they may come out with. They seem to love to expand on their App store... and adding a whole bookstore line to it, dominating book sales, wouldn't be so bad for them. They already dominate music sales and the like. Why not books? I realize they currently have some sort of avenue for this through the iPad, but it's definitely not full-fledged and in the work.

Apple makes their best profits off of the iPhone. The best way to get people to want to buy an iPhone or an iPad or any product is by getting them to own an Apple product at least once. By getting someone to own one Apple product, it leads to another. I doubt an Apple television would have this same effect on someone (I mean, the iPod has the least effect as well... I know too many people who own iPods and hate Macs). A Mac or iPad or iPhone usually gets people wanting to buy more Apple products though.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's more fun to imagine what Apple would make rather than dismissing the rumor and moving on, so here is my vision:
Edge to edge display (very thin to no bezel). FaceTime camera behind display (or in very thin bezel). Good internal speakers. Icloud compatible. Great OS with CoreAnimation. App store (giving a built in gaming system and media content beyond iTunes).

The software would be the biggest differentiator and the least expensive component. The Apple Television might be improbable but it's not impossible.
 
Why not

TVs are not necessarily low margin business the higher end lines carry decent margins. to maintain their normal 30% on hardware given their distribution
model apple could price at about 15% over comparable Sony yet offer a much more convenient interface/services and cooler design. At 300 million units market even 3% share would give apple about 3 billion profit annually adding 45 billion to their market cap.
 
fpnc said:
I doubt that Apple is going to introduce their own TVs. IMO, if this does happen it probably means that Steve Jobs is no longer calling the shots at Apple. TVs are a low margin business and Apple has no first-mover advantage in this market.

The only possible advantage to an Apple-branded TV would be if Apple can seamlessly integrate a super-enhanced version of the existing Apple TV box within the TV itself. Well that's pretty obvious, but it would have to be really groundbreaking in design and features, not just the current Apple TV + display.

In order to create a really revolutionary product Apple would have to forge new agreements with the content providers and cable TV operators which is not likely to happen anytime soon.

Thus, I call this rumor and all of the previous Apple TV rumors (which go back for years and years) pure, unadulterated bunk.
Click to expand...

Low margins are irrelevant. Apple can put a TV for sale for any price they want. Is anyone going to buy? another question entirely.
 
David29 said:
Here are a few notes and explanation why this will never happen.

Margins

Almost all of Apple's product and business operate at very high margins, certainly much higher than most of the electronics industry.

They can charge these margins with the Mac because of its control over both HW and SW with the Mac, and because of (at least the perceived) the benefits over Windows.

Apple can charge high margins on the iPhone - JUST because the way the cell phone industry works. The phone companies actually pay for a lot of the phone real price because they lock you into a 2-year contract. That brings the (perceived) price to the customer down to something reasonable. But Apple still makes its margins.

And just to be complete...

The iTunes store is a cash cow (once you allow for the infrastructure to run it). Apple was able to effectively create an ecosystem which encompassed all major contents providers (record companies) because there were only like 6 record companies to deal with! Plus Apple struck these deals at a time when the music business was in tough shape. The music industry stuck its head in the sand when it came to the 'net, and saw its revenues go in the tank. Apple provided them a way to utilize the 'net and make money. (BTW, Lets face it, a big part of the success of the iTunes store was due to timing. If Apple tried to do it sooner, the record companies would not have yet perceived that they had a REAL problem and they never would have signed up. If Apple waited longer, too many others, i.e. Amazon, would have been in the market already. Apple's timing was perfect.)

Now, regarding an Apple TV...

Apple would never be able to directly compete against the Samsungs, Sonys, Vizios, etc. They would get killed on price. First off Apple would NEVER consider getting into a HW business with razor-thin margins like most HDTV manufacturers deal with. So Apple would not have price points near that of the current suppliers.

So, you are thinking .... what if Apple were to come out with something so cool, so awesome, so much better, that people would pay a 40% premium for a TV that came from Apple.

That's a lovely thought. What if Apple had an Apple Store for TV programs?

That would be really tough to do. Sure, Apple has done something like that with MOVIES, but again the movie industry is fairly self-contained like music, you can get deal with the 5-6 largest distributors and basically provide 95% of the retail content out there if you want.

But BROADCAST TV and CABLE TV are different from movies. There are many many players involved.

So the only real advantage that Apple could provide in a TV (to justify its 40% margins) would be:

Ad-free content - Which it cant do because there are too many content providers to deal with.

Another possibility would be that Apple would make it easier to hook the TV up to stuff. But let's get real. Apple would have to defines interfaces that work with hundreds of existing BD players, stereos, etc. Those standards are defined. Plus, lets REALLY get real .... although hooking up stuff can be a pain, its a non-recurring pain. People go through their challenges getting everything to work, but once its hooked up and it works, it works, and the connectivity problem is nullified. People wont pay a 40% premium just for this convenience.

So, there you go.

By the way, for you newbies out there, there already WAS an Apple TV many years ago. It tanked.

So as fo a NEW incarnation of an "Apple TV" ...

It will never happen.
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Apple high margins is a myth.

Many other companies/tech companies have higher marginals then Apple. The different is that Apples prices are higher. Making 33% profit on a 1000 dollar computer is better then doing 50% profit on a 500 dollar. Apple can therefore have a higher profit with lower marginals then others. People compare a cheep Dell to a Macbook and believes Apples higher price is because Apple is greedy.

Apples gross margins is 41.7%. Around 8% points of this is from Apples cash. Microsoft gross margins 78.1%. Coca Cola 63%. McDonalds 39.9%. Intel 61.9%
So there are many companies with much higher marginals then Apple. People just hate Apple and believe they are overpriced.

iTunes store is not a cash cow for Apple. Until apps came, they made no money on iTunes. iTunes is a service to make people buy Apple hardware. This is the reason why other devices can't be synced against iTunes. If Apple made a huge profit, they would let other devices sync like Palm Pre did.
http://www.asymco.com/2010/09/09/it-takes-nearly-1-billionyr-to-run-itunes/

AppleLCD TV: Look at the patents that Apple has for the TV. It will be a complete revolutionized TV experience with Apple. Just like MP3 players, computers and phones before it.

As for price: look at the better LEDTVs and add 10-20% to it. Apple have had this price structure on MP3 players, computers and phones. Somehow it does work. Apples goal will be 2-5% market share and they would make money on it.

The low end stuff Apple can't and won't compete with.
 
Phormic said:
You know what. That sounds exactly like the state of home entertainment today. I hate setting up the myriad of cables, wires, speakers and everything else to get a result. The back of my cabinets look like a spaghetti factory explosion. I had my amplifier fixed a few weeks back. Setting it all back up again drove me to tears.

Apple enters markets that require simplification. You don't think the home entertainment market requires simplification?
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It sure does and here is how Apple could do it:

1. Partner with DirecTv. Available and uniform technology everywhere, the best program selection.
2. Integrate an Apple version of the DTV receiver into the TV. Apple's design would have a far superior interface.
3. Integrate Apple TV into this.
4. Include a surround sound preamp. It would all be integrated with the receiver and provide a rational, mostly automatic best sound available operation.

So far, a bunch of stuff and only one power wire!

Now, five or seven pairs of speaker wire, plus at least one subwoofer wire...that's alot of wires. But, there are remote speakers that are wireless and have their own built-in amps. Digital amps are light and small and can be either stand-alones so one can select any speaker brand they want if either the amp or the speaker has remote receiving capability. Or of course Apple could supply totally integrated speakers and optional built-in versions as well.

The only wire to the speakers and sub would then be the power cord, not a big deal in most places!

Of course, for those who value total simplicity over ultimate performance, Apple could also have speakers at the rear of the TV and bounce the sound off the back wall as an option. I actually have a set of the original Bose 901s that did this.

So, an elegant Apple TV, an Apple interface, the ability to use a cool Apple remote or an iOS device which would also include Airplay of course and no wires except power cords!

None of this requires any new technology. The only hard part is putting the components into the TV, but really how many people would object to one simple separate box with one cord to the TV if that would be better than a thicker TV or one with a chin. Think of something like a Mini size and shape. It would also make for easier servicing and updating, but I know Apple would much rather sell an all in one version as they do with the iMac.

Hooking up with a Sat provider would make for some interesting networking options in the future. Of course there is also an upgrade path as TV technology advances and there could be real high end options like very cool electrostatic speakers, bigger subwoofers and all that audio stuff.

An awful lot of people are totally put off by the mess and complication, not to mention the operation of the typical home theater today. Apple could really step in and take a big part of that market, contrary to what most people have been thinking.

Oh, and I forgot; Jobs would of course insist on a Bluray player...:rolleyes:
 
MisterK said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's more fun to imagine what Apple would make rather than dismissing the rumor and moving on, so here is my vision:
Edge to edge display (very thin to no bezel). FaceTime camera behind display (or in very thin bezel). Good internal speakers. Icloud compatible. Great OS with CoreAnimation. App store (giving a built in gaming system and media content beyond iTunes).

The software would be the biggest differentiator and the least expensive component. The Apple Television might be improbable but it's not impossible.
Click to expand...

Look at all the publicized Apple patents about a TV.
The software is what make Apple unique. The same will be with AppleTV.

Steve Jobs is also obsessed with high resolution right now. Just look at Retina iPad and 2048x1536 resolution. About 10% of PC users have fullHD displays, and now we will have a tablet with higher resolution.

In Lion there is HiDPI modes. Lion supports 5120x3200 resolution.

I don't believe it, but Apple could bring out the first consumer 4K resolution display. Apple have one huge advantage in 4K race: They have content in 4K and deliver it thru iTunes.
 
Speedy2 said:
The difference is, everyone hated their phones, and no one apart from a few enthusiasts actually used them to do anything else but call and text,
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That is totally false! Way before the iPhone, many of my co-workers and I were already using Windows Mobile on our HTC smartphones, going online and syncing our corporate and personal email accounts, as well as being on IM. Why do people insist Apple brought smartphone to humankind? They didn't!
 
I dont believe this stuff for a second. I think there is no way Apple is going to sell a product that they can get 30-50% margins on. Its been said over and over how margins on HD TVs are going down and it is hard for companies to distinguish their products and make a profit. I think Apple is already doing to correct thing in this market, albeit a little slow and lacking features, by selling an add on that can be used with any HD TV.
 
Kusanagi6913 said:
How many of you actually follow Apple?

How many threads do we need to pull from past years where the naysayers who are stating Apple won't go into TV's also predicted Apple not going into the phone business, the netbook/ tablet business and so on?

...
Click to expand...

True, however I only think this proves Apple will always be 1 step ahead and will come up with something that will completely blow us away.

I'd much rather see apple releasing a big-ass TV without the wissles and bells. I for one would love an Apple TV (45" +) with TB/FW/HDMi inputs and with the :apple:TV module included. That's it. Make it 4K, and i'm all in!
 
So basically it will be a regular TV with an Apple logo stuck on it with a price tag that's about 6x more than what it's really worth?
 
Marx55 said:
Hopefully with Full PiP. After image quality, the most important feature of a TV set for many people is the Full Picture-in-Picture (Full PiP), which requires at least two tuners inside the TV set.
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emaja said:
People use the tuners in their sets? Everyone I know has some sort of cable/satellite/Tivo for the DVRs.
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Many people do not have such additions or simply want to watch one TDT channel while waiting (PiP) other TDT channel (no cable/satellite/TiVo involved).
 
Maybe it'll just be branded... The iMac 88" Super HD+

Wait, no, that sounds something Samsung would name
 
WeeBey said:
Needs more digits.
Click to expand...

So true.

Samsung and their stupid product names.

My last Samsung phone was an AI0randomnumbershere.

I don't remember. The one I had before that had an almost identical name. I don't know if you can call it a name though.
 
I think the person who wrote the article and the person who wrote the research note quoted in the article both have their head up their ass. Wake up. There is lots of reasons why Apple will not make a TV any time soon.

1. The race to the bottom is not their thing.
2. People keep their TV's for a long time. So Apple can't push out a new model every other year.
3. ACD quality at the jumbo tron TV sizes people expect these days is just not possible.
4. What can they do that's new. Not much. Apart from put the Apple TV indie the TV.
5. Remember "Bag of hurt"?
6. The Apple TV is still a hobby according to Apple. Why would Apple enter the market when their AppleTVs are not flying off the shelves.

And more. So this article is total BS. But hey it is good for generating lots of page hits right?

Mac "Page hit whore" Rumors would be happy.
 
It's only natural for a corporation that has so much success and cash to look for new playing fields.

But I wouldn't expect Apple to just get another plasma or LCD set out there.

It must be a TV set that causes a splash with a new take on TV sets.

Maybe a seamless integration with the computer?

Or the first TV set that can only double as a computer monitor? (and is really good at it).

I expect great industrial design.
 
You people are funny... Last i checked, the iPhone was one of the most expensive phones out there when it was released, and we see how that turned out. Bottom line: If the TV is significantly enough better than any offering out there, it'll be a success, just as the iPhone was.
 
the8thark said:
I think the person who wrote the article and the person who wrote the research note quoted in the article both have their head up their ass. Wake up. There is lots of reasons why Apple will not make a TV any time soon.

1. The race to the bottom is not their thing.
2. People keep their TV's for a long time. So Apple can't push out a new model every other year.
3. ACD quality at the jumbo tron TV sizes people expect these days is just not possible.
4. What can they do that's new. Not much. Apart from put the Apple TV indie the TV.
5. Remember "Bag of hurt"?
6. The Apple TV is still a hobby according to Apple. Why would Apple enter the market when their AppleTVs are not flying off the shelves.

And more. So this article is total BS. But hey it is good for generating lots of page hits right?

Mac "Page hit whore" Rumors would be happy.
Click to expand...

Oh gosh... I totally didn't think about they yearly upgrades. That would suck so much.

Apple would really have to make one perfect model and SOMEHOW stay with it... It could possibly work. I guess TVs don't change too much very often. And if new ports or whatever were needed - adapters.

But does my logic match what Apple's probably thinking? Doubt it. They'd so want to release a new, slightly better one each year or so.
 
Why wait for Apple? If you want to spend an insane amount of cash on an LCD TV with a Samsung panel in it, Bang & Olufsen have you covered :D

:apple:
 
Every Apple HDTV below $2000 (hopefully $1500) will sell like hotcakes, Apple could improve the design, software and services to shake-up the TV and cable market.
 
a TV with IOS or built-in iTunes and Retina Display that cost double the price of your regular TV set will win.......over all of you!

did i mention an Apple logo?
 
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