Competitors Already 'Scrambling' to React to Apple's TV Plans

[Thunderhawks]

I don't want to have to talk to my TV.

That would get irritating

Better than the wife, at least you can mute your TV!

 

[jhwalker]

I think this is the wrong direction - they should update the existing AppleTV platform with all these new features and just use your existing TV as a "monitor". No one is going to buy a new TV every year or two to keep up with new features - TVs are a long lifetime item.

 

[azentropy]

Interested to see what Apple comes up with. I think the TV market is a bit different dynamic than other markets Apple has entered. Most people I know keep TVs for 5-10+ years. So right now I don't see a killer feature, Siri for TV isn't it IMO, that would make people who got a nice LCD/LED TV in the past few years want to upgrade.

 

[talkingfuture]

Can't help but think that pre-empting a product that is only rumoured and not even announced is a recipe for expensive failure. These companies should have been innovating all along.

 

[DakotaGuy]

It is nothing I would ever buy because I prefer to buy an HDTV as a long term investment and then when technology changes I can just plug new devices into it. However if they do it they will sell them by the boatload even if they are priced hundreds more then the competition. Why? Because of the Apple logo on it. You know it is going to use the same panel and components as any other mainstream HDTV so your not paying more for some exotic components inside. Plus by integrating all of the electronics after technology changes in a couple of years they will all be back to buy another one and haul the old one off to the landfill. It is a wonderful idea for corporate profit.

 

[Porco]

I don't want to have to talk to my TV.

That would get irritating

Yeah, I agree.

I like to *shout* at my TV sometimes, usually sports, but that's different to *talking* to it.

Regardless of that though, I would hope whatever Apple does has a positive influence upon design and UIs for TVs. I'm sure phones would be somewhat like they are without the iPhone, but probably not quite as good and probably not having become so quite as quickly. I think Apple do make the rest of the technology industries think about stuff they might not be so bothered about otherwise, and that's a good thing for everyone.

 

[blackpond]

There are no "significant advantages" in the television domain because nobody has them and Apple won't either.

To be the "best" television out there it would need to be cheap, having multiple streaming services, have a sleek design and most importantly have the best picture quality.

Right now every manufacturer fails or excels in a couple of areas and Apple will be the same. I don't care if a television can read my mind to change channels if the image quality has poor black levels, uniformity and small screen size it has no interest for me and a lot of people.

An Apple brand will not pull videophiles away from their equipment and an Apple price will not pull budget consumers away from their Vizios.

You're wrong.

 

[powers74]

Don't scramble, you retards!

 

[Gasu E.]

An Apple brand will not pull videophiles away from their equipment and an Apple price will not pull budget consumers away from their Vizios.

Hmmm... videophiles and budget consumers... I guess there is no middle-market, looking for, say, good-enough picture quality combines with the ability to actuall USE the 1000 channels they have access to.

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Better than the wife, at least you can mute your TV!

Plus, you can easily switch the channel!

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Those things can't be said with a straight face

Really? "Blackberry absolutely owns the smart phone market; there really is no opening for a new competitor."--conventional wisdom c. 2006.

 

[johncrab]

Apple is great at sending competitors off in a hundred directions, chasing ghosts. This is yet another example of trying to anticipate what Apple might do and cobbling together something to react to a fantasy. Steve baited Microsoft into releasing Vista way before it was ready and then announced a months long delay in Leopard after MS committed. It's a great game that Apple plays and the competition keeps falling for it. I'll wait and get the real thing.

 

[Sasha-1]

It sucks that Sharp makes lousy panels and Plasmas are better than LCDs, although I am interested to see what Apple does here.

TVs are so cheap now that I don't see why people would want to pay an Apple tax for a lousy Sharp television.

You seem to be assuming all the product will be is a Sharp made TV with an Apple logo on it. Do you truly believe that's all this will be?

 

[sswanky]

Whatever Apple is planning, I'm hoping it will bring healthy competition to the market. I feel like I do not have adequate choices, other than subscribe or don't subscribe.

And while I'm not a big sports nut, I don't think Apple or anyone but the cable/satellite providers can adequately bring sports programming to the end consumer. How is this situation going to be improved?

I need a better solution. Comcast just jacked my rates again.

 

[Gunga Din]

It sucks that Sharp makes lousy panels and Plasmas are better than LCDs, although I am interested to see what Apple does here.

TVs are so cheap now that I don't see why people would want to pay an Apple tax for a lousy Sharp television.

Exactly. Forget the gimmicks APPLE will introduce. Bottom line is picture quality and content. I don't need to speak to my TV as well.

 

[newagemac]

Whatever Apple is planning, I'm hoping it will bring healthy competition to the market. I feel like I do not have adequate choices, other than subscribe or don't subscribe.

And while I'm not a big sports nut, I don't think Apple or anyone but the cable/satellite providers can adequately bring sports programming to the end consumer. How is this situation going to be improved?

I need a better solution. Comcast just jacked my rates again.

Apple already has all the largest major professional sports on the Apple TV except for the NFL. They have baseball, basketball, and hockey. You can already get the NFL on iOS through the NFL Sunday Ticket app so it's just a matter of time for even the NFL. Not sure why you think Apple can't bring sports programming to the end consumer.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

And it all could be a ruse from the grave to bankrupt those that seek to out do an Apple idea.

Why else would it be mentioned like that in the book...

It's going to be fun to watch Icarus flying to the sun...

If it is true though, the iTV, then all contenders are going to have to gore the cable TV monopoly Ox, which would be a very good thing in the long term. (Same with slaying the music industry vultures on the backs of the artists with music production and distribution)

 

[Žalgiris]

A day late and a dollar short.

 

[rdowns]

AllThingsD reports on a new research note from Jeffries analyst Peter Misek suggesting that manufacturers are already "scrambling" to react to claims that Apple is preparing to enter the television set market. And rather than innovating on their own, competitors are reportedly focused on trying to identify what Apple will do to revolutionize the industry.Misek notes that Sharp appears to be retooling an LCD production line to suit Apple's needs, with mass production on the line reportedly targeted for February 2012. Such a development could put a product release sometime in the middle of the year. Previous rumors had claimed that Apple could announce its television set by late 2012 and launch the product by early 2013.

Whatever Apple's plans are, Misek suggests that competitors will almost certainly be six to twelve months behind with their own offerings, giving Apple a significant advantage in the marketplace if it truly does offer a revolutionary new product.

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Sony has been the most visible company seeking to head off Apple's potential blockbuster entrance into the market, working to develop a "four screen" strategy across TVs, computers, tablets, and phones and investigating Web-based television services that would enable consumers to bypass traditional cable companies.

Apple has dabbled in television with its Apple TV set-top box and TV content available through the iTunes Store, but the company's ultimate plans are said to be much more ambitious, involving actual television sets incorporating Siri functionality that premiered in the iPhone 4S. The company has also reportedly developed a "new technology" for delivering content to TV sets and has expressed interest in offering "best of TV" bundles of shows, although content providers have yet to agree to such a plan.

Article Link: Competitors Already 'Scrambling' to React to Apple's TV Plans

Is it me or does this seem to be a made up story?

 

[kirky29]

This thing won't be called iTV

We have a awful TV Station in the UK already called ITV

Checkout their website itv.com

Awful? They show...I'm a Celeb, The Only Way is Essex, Jeremy Kyle, Loose Women....oh wait.................!

 

[soco]

Is it me or does this seem to be a made up story?

Is it me, or does this site seem to mainly report and discuss rumors?

 

[ThanksSteve]

1. Isn't this the reason Apple usually keeps this stuff quiet?

2. I'm thinking current television manufacturers will try to team with Google on an Android television to compete with what will likely be a Siri-controlled Apple television.

 

[rdowns]

Is it me, or does this site seem to mainly report and discuss rumors?

Wow, no flies on you.

Yes, MR reports rumors but this has nothing to to other than a flippant comment Jobs made to his biographer. I've never seen so many weasel words in a front page story.

I don't believe Apple will make a TV unless they can do big content deals. IMO, there is no compelling reason to buy an APple TV unless I can cut the cable cord.

 

[patrick808]

Well said.

Yeah, if Apple does nothing, this rumor will still make the world a better place

And this is why I love Apple. They drive competition like no other company..

 

[Hattig]

And this is why I love Apple. They drive competition like no other company. I've got a Samsung 55" 3DTV and if it weren't for these rumors, the next TV I buy would still have a crappy interface...

If it weren't for Apple, we'd likely still have phones on the market with physical buttons and 2" screens.

Apart from all the phones in the years before the iPhone that had large touchscreens and smartphone interfaces. How soon people's memories fail. Apple may have improved the looks and interfaces, but these other devices like the SE P800 (2002), etc, were there before.

Also a lot of the modern TVs have a lot of internet functionality already. Siri is the real golden technology that Apple can use to kill the remote.

 

[leukotriene]

There are no "significant advantages" in the television domain because nobody has them and Apple won't either.

To be the "best" television out there it would need to be cheap, having multiple streaming services, have a sleek design and most importantly have the best picture quality.

Right now every manufacturer fails or excels in a couple of areas and Apple will be the same. I don't care if a television can read my mind to change channels if the image quality has poor black levels, uniformity and small screen size it has no interest for me and a lot of people.

An Apple brand will not pull videophiles away from their equipment and an Apple price will not pull budget consumers away from their Vizios.

An Apple-branded phone will never pull power users away from their Blackberries. And an Apple price will never pull budget consumers away from their feature phones.

 

[the8thark]

And Apple should turn around and say:

"We had no plans to make a TV". You spend your R&D dollars to make a product better then something we won't (for the time being) release or make. That'd put the egg on all their faces.