Tim Cook teased during the iPad 3 announcement that he is excited about the upcoming products later in 2012 and that we can safely assume is more than just the regular Macs, iPhone, iPod touch etc. Since a long time we have been hearing rumors of Apple building a television and perhaps it is time to now see it in reality.
Over the past week, thee have been several rumors of Apple buying out a TV manufacturer Loewe. Though Loewe has denied the rumors, it only adds fuel to the fire of Apple building a TV. The interesting bit is that Loewe’s shareholders are Sharp and Lacie. We have previously looked at news of Apple investing in Sharp’s facilities and it won’t be a surprise if Apple ends up using some technology from Loewe / Sharp for its iTV.
Another major rumor for iTV is Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou’s statements where he claimed that they are gearing up for an Apple TV. As it seems Foxconn is working with Sharp to develop on LCD technologies and the two companies are also operating a joint plant to churn out the rumored iTV’s. Apple may launch the iTV’s at WWDC in June, however there is a long list of pending products from Apple that are being rumored. The list includes iOS 6, iPhone 6th Gen, iPod touch 5th Gen, 2012 MacBook Pro & 2012 iMacs. Apple TV might well be pushed outside WWDC given the software significance of the event.
For the moment we can openly speculate about what would be the key differentiator for Apple’s TV. Siri? Use iOS devices as remote? Facetime? Internet? iMac + TV? Content partnership? Apple TV + iTV? The list goes on long. We wonder if Apple would take a serious look at gaming consoles with its TV initiative?