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Apple TV

Apple HDTV prototype spotted, blog claims

If a report from Cult of Mac this morning is true, we may have our first good sense of what Apple's long-rumored and much-hyped HDTV looks like and what features it contains.

In the report, Cult of Mac cites an unnamed source who is said to have seen a prototype of the forthcoming device and who claims that it looks like "Apple's current lineup of LED-backlit Cinema Displays but is 'much bigger.' It [also] has a built-in iSight camera for making free FaceTime video conference calls. And it has Siri, the iPhone 4S' voice-activated virtual assistant." … Read more

Apple TV set may not launch until 2014, says analyst

Consumers waiting for a TV set from Apple may have to sit tight for a couple more years.

Apple won't launch any type of TV this year, says J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz. Instead, the company is likely to build up to such a product in two separate phases.

First, Apple would expand its current TV box by launching a more advanced set-top module sometime in 2013 at the earliest. Then the company could unveil a full-blown TV with a display and speakers in 2014 or later, the analyst said in a research note released today.

Why no … Read more

Apple TV set chatter heats up with rumored content talks

Apple is once again said to be talking up a TV set when trying to ink deals with content providers.

The latest target is said to be Epix, a joint venture of Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. According to Reuters, the movie channel has been in talks with Apple to bring its content to Apple's digital stores.

The interesting tidbit, Reuters says, is that Apple's been pitching a deal that would bring the content beyond its $99 set top box, and to "upcoming devices that stream content." That could be Apple's TV set, a product that … Read more

Apple's iTV: Will it be called iPanel?

Analysts are increasingly upbeat about Apple's prospects for the TV market. But iTV may not be the name for this next-gen television. Are you ready for iPanel?

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek has raised his estimates for Apple and said that shares could hit the $800 mark. That price target comes just a few days after Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Apple could be worth $1 trillion in market capitalization, or $1,000 a share.

Misek expects Apple to ship 2 million TVs in the December quarter and pull along iPad and iPhone sales. The catch is that the … Read more

Apple TV set said to be coming in 2013

The newest in the long line of Apple TV set rumors is that indeed the device is on the way but most likely not until 2013.

"We continue to view Apple TV hardware as a 2013 event," an Asian research group CLSA said in a note today, according to the news site Business Insider.

The note goes on to note that Foxconn, which manufactures Apple products, has decided to invest in Sharp electronics, giving more credibility to the notion that an Apple TV set is in the works. According to Business Insider, Sharp will provide the panels for … Read more

Ex Apple engineer disses firm's post-Steve Jobs design sense

Steve Jobs wouldn't have cared much for the recent software redesign Apple rolled out to its Apple TV set-top box, according to a former engineer who once worked on the product.

Michael Margolis, listed on his LinkedIn profile as having worked as a "Professional Hobbyist, AppleTV" as well as a "Senior Software Engineer" at Apple, tweeted late Friday that the new interface designs for the box actually got "tossed out 5 years ago because [Steve Jobs] didn't like them."

Margolis also claimed that "now there is nobody to say 'no' to … Read more

Apple TV comes with mix of old and new

Judging by the Apple TV specifications page, the set-top box isn't a major departure from its predecessor. And a recent teardown seems to confirm that.

A member on the XBMC forum over the weekend posted a full teardown of the new Apple TV. As promised, the set-top box comes with the Apple A5 system-on-a-chip, which is one step above the A4 the previous Apple TV was running. However, as "aicjofs," the forum user, points out, the Apple TV comes with the single-core A5 chip, making it a little less capable than the dual-core option found in Apple'… Read more

Apple TV's new user interface: Hands-on

The new Apple TV is getting 1080p, but the redesigned user interface is coming to both new Apple TV models and existing 2nd-gen models. The software update for 2nd-gen Apple TV boxes is already available today, so I installed the update and was able to take the new interface for a spin.

Not everyone realizes that the Apple TV actually runs on the same iOS software that powers the iPad and iPhone, but this latest update make it a lot more obvious. Gone is the "list"-type menus from the old interface, replaced with a grid of icons … Read more

For Apple TV, subscription video service still missing

Apple still has no subscription video service, and without it, Apple TV is nothing to get excited about, one industry analyst says.

As part of Apple's press event for the iPad today in San Francisco, the company announced that Apple TV would get an upgrade. The system will support 1080p movies and TV shows. Navigation was improved. Movies and TV shows will be supported in iCloud so they can be accessed from iPads and iPhones as well.

Dan Rayburn, principle analyst for research firm Frost & Sullivan, is unimpressed. He argues that Apple TV could be so much more, … Read more