More Talk of Apple Television Set by End of This Year

[Maura]

Apple 2.0’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports today on a new note to clients from Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, in which he once again talks about the possibility of Apple releasing its own TV set by the end of the year. As Elmer-DeWitt notes, Munster has been forecasting the arrival of an Apple TV set for the past four years, and it has yet to appear, although many other industry commentators are now coming round to his way of thinking regarding an Apple-branded TV. In Tuesday’s note, Munster says that he recently spoke to a “major TV component supplier”, who told him that it had been in talks with Apple about various aspects of its TV display components. This information, combined with recent reports that Apple is financing manufacturing facilities so that it can make 50-inch LCD screens, as well as talk of an Apple TV prototype, have all led Munster to restate his belief that Apple is planning on releasing its own branded TV set, although he says that the timing of the release remains “uncertain”, mainly due to difficulties about content. Munster also puts forward three possible solutions for the content quandary for Apple, with the first being to have its TV manage the user’s live TV service in a similar way that TiVo does for example, in its partnership with MSOs. Munster’s second solution is for Apple to provide access to live TV from network channels as well as web-based content, possibly with a new App Store specifically for the TV, with apps from the likes of Netflix, Hulu Plus, and so on. Munster’s final solution is for Apple to offer monthly subscriptions for live TV packages featuring programming from content providers.

Wonder if Apple already has any of these plans in mind?

Source: An Apple TV set in 2012? - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Tech
via 9to5 Mac

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