Rumors of an Apple television continue to mound up

Apple has been rumored to start selling a Apple television (not just a set top box) for years but when you put together all of the information released over the last few months, it’s looks likely we will finally see it next year.

Possibly the strongest evidence is from Steve Jobs himself when he told Walter Isaacson in a interview for his biography:

“‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use, he told me. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

As you can imagine the internet has been buzzing about an iTV ever since the biography was released.

Since then an analyst at the American Bank Jefferies, Peter Misek, claims that Sharp will start production on the next-generation TV sets in the beginning of 2012 and that other TV manufactures are “scrambling” to find out what the iTV will do.

“Other TV manufacturers have begun a scrambling search to identify what iTV will be and do. They hope to avoid the fate of other industries and manufacturers who were caught flat-footed by Apple,” Misek said.

The Tokyo Times also claims that production of iTV sets are expected to start in February at Sharp’s Sakai factory in Japan.

Another analyst Gene Munster, is so confident that Apple is going to release a television next year, he is already telling people who are looking to buy a TV to wait.

According to a Business Insider article, Munster believes the following about the upcoming iTV:

• It will be a full fledged television set rather than a set top box because Apple thinks people hate to plug things in.
• The price will be twice of a normal television.
• There will be a range of sizes in order to appeal to large amount of people.
• It will have the ability to download content, games, and apps from the App Store, iTunes and iCloud.
• The TV will think the way you do. Instead of trying to remember what channel is ESPN is on, you will simply say “ESPN.”
• It will come with a remote but it users will also be able to control it with an iPhone, iPad or Siri.
• A cable subscription and cable box will be required since Apple can’t get all the content, otherwise all you have to do is screw in the co-ax cable.
• The TV will launch in time for the holiday season next year.

One other thing to note is that iOS 5.1 Beta was released a few day ago and it revealed references to a new Apple TV. However, the references in iOS 5.1 is likely signs of an Apple TV 3 set top box and not an iTV.

Originally posted 2011-12-01 03:16:39.