For the fun of it, enter your Mock-ups for an Apple HD TV here!! - Page 3

Do you know how much more that would cost than just buying an hdtv? At apple prices anyone that did that would be insane, unless they magically lower their prices to todays hdtvs, which are lower and lower and lower.

For the price of the 30" ACD alone I could have 2 well branded good quality hdtvs.

I honestly don't think Apple wants to make a TV.

They would not be flat panel though; they would be rear projection or standard deep tv.

I have no idea if Apple will come out with an all-in-one TV but it looks like it's coming out with the components. If their new displays have HDMI connectors, that means they can double as HDTVs that will work with the iTV part. Blu-ray HD disc players also have HDMI output. I see there's a Samsung unit at Myer-Emco for $749. Those prices are coming down fast.

A real AIO HDTV system from Apple would have to have the iTV + display + tuner combo. I'm not sure Apple will do that or if it makes economic sense but I'd sure like to see it.

That really depends on what the display type is if Apple releases a TV or a computer monitor. The ACD is not an HDTV, it's not meant for TV use. If Apple sells something that going to be sold for use as a TV, then it will be a proper TV rather than a computer monitor and would probably cost a lot less than the same size computer monitor.

True, but why would Apple join a market that is so saturate?

The current 30" Apple cinema display is great, there is a competitor on Dell 30", besides these two who else is out there providing such high end computer monitor? please let me know if any other.

Now let's look at the HDTV market. A segment that Ireland and Rolo really wants Apple to join in.
Basically every single major consumer electronics manufacturer has a presence: Sony, LG, Sharp, Pioneer, Panasonic, Sanyo, Toshiba, Samsung, Philips, etc.
Then prices are dropping faster than a drunk on a Carnival parade, one example. Pioneer launched in July and amazing 1080p display at $10K, now less than 6 months later the same goes for $7K. I predict by 2007 year's end $4K. Man, that's $3K drop in less than 6 months. Compare to the Apple 30" Cinema Display that's what?, 2.5 years old? The drop in price has been $1500 in 2.5 years.
Another thing, there is a HUGE variety of great quality HDTV displays out there for anybody tastes and budget.
OK, now why would Apple be interest in joining such crowded market? Why do you think Apple doesn't have a digital camera, camcorder, printer, etc.? Because there is too much competition and great products out there and the same products will not help Apple's leverage their Mac sales.

The iPod fill a void in a sucks mp3 player market, the same can't be said for the HDTV market.

I am a firm believer Apple will join the TV market providing technologies like iTV and possible some sort of integration of software just like it did iTunes with music. Maybe an iTunes/or/and Front Row with TV listings, DVR recording capabilities, etc. That would draw people to buy Macs. Not an AppleTV folks.

It's simple, and don't forget Steve is not TV number one fan!

Like the mobile phone business, I don't think Apple has much to gain in making a consumer TV. Prices would be sky high, so they would need some kind of innovative gimmick like iTV hardware built in or basically making it a giant iMac.

It's a bad thing if Apple makes a halo device that costs a lot to develop, they completely misjudge the users, and the thing bombs. Apple usually gets in trouble when they try to fix something that isn't broke in the eyes of most everyone else.

Ireland,
You still not giving me a compelling reason to expect to see an Apple TV.

I select the points above just to say:

Yes, it's true the iPod HI-FI is here, and oh boy what a success this thing is!
R&D for a TV is way bigger than and little speaker and second the prices of such devices are NOT dropping like the HDTV sets are.

OK, Apple love an AIO, but why bring it for an TV? people keep their TVs for long time. I have mine for 7 years. I am planning to get an HDTV next year and keep it for at least 5 years. Why would why want a technology besides the TV built-in on my HDTV set that might become obsolete in 2 to 3 years and then have to replace the whole dam set?

and finally, I am pretty sure Steve can careless for the current TV model. He is willing to bring Apple to have a model that TV downloads using a Mac are the way to watch TV instead of just surfing channels and setting up DVRs. Why a TV is necessary to achieve that? plus the digital hub is around the Mac, not the TV set.

Sorry man, I know you want a AppleTV so badly. but the reasons you bring to the table are NOT strong enough to have Apple putting tons of money to develop such a thing and make a profit selling then and help leverage Mac sales.
Do you want a great TV, buy this one, It's out of this world!

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pn...043890,00.html

Apple looks to have a strategy whereby they have a piece of the living room and all the digital content that goes with it. They aren't going to get the enterprise or corporate business.

It is not a dumb question. The setup you describe is probably
a beauty, may i add, a pricey beauty. But also dedicated to tech savvy people and/or Mac fans.
The average jimbim doesn't need this power monster as a simple TV setup.
It is just not mainstream enough to attract a lot of people outside the Apple world.

hey Ireland and Rolo, I guess your dream of an AppleTV is a reality now.
Too bad is not a TV.

What? You mean like cell phones?

Apple just drew a line in the sand and said we're a general consumer electronics company not a computer company anymore. A mini-Sony.

Will they make an apple branded HDTV? Its not a given but its not completely out in left field. No one else is going to be building a TV with iTV built in so if there's a market they'll have to be the ones that does the integration. There's nothing really odd about Apple having a couple HDTV models with integrated iTVs sitting in Apple stores that are OEM'd by some glass maker they have a relationship with for monitors anyway.

With only one or two models their volumes should be high enough for a niche market and picking the right sizes they will have the margin they want. An no one else will have iTV built in and perhaps some specialized FrontRow integration for TV setup and tuner control.

Vinea

Not like cell phones.

The iPhone is a natural extension of the iPod concept: that's where the competition is, and it allows apple to move into the hand held space with an embedded OS X, which has long been perceived as a necessary and inevitable move.

A large screen display with a slot loading DVD and slimmed down OS X and internet functionality would be...... a less capable iMac.

Apple TV makes it less, not more likely that Apple will stay out of the home theater display market, since it makes any display into an adjunct of the computer, which is clearly what Apple thinks is the way to go.

It's the "hub" thing for the streaming video and video download age. Apple makes hubs, and hub extenders (the iPod and iPhone are portable hub extenders-- the real action is still on your desktop and they carry a subset of that functionality into the field). They don't make home theater receivers, they make Air Tunes. They don't make HD television sets, they make Apple TV.

I think an apple tv will come but making itv built into it might make it obsolete faster than if it was just a tv.

I gave up using the word 'impossible' or 'likely' with Apple a while back.

With Apple these days? Anything is 'possible.'

A better word for Apple? Intimidating, Innovative...

I wouldn't be a phone rival...

The iPhone put the writing on the wall for many of the things we take forgranted...

Including TVs...

Lemon Bon Bon

guys,
A TV monitor is very unlikely to happen.
I already posted the many reasons why is very unlikely. go back and read it if you are interested.

one interesting thing from the keynote Quicktime was when Jobs show us a graphic of the sales of cell phones and other devices. The cell phones were almost a billion unit sales market and the mp3's and digital cameras wayyyyyyy behind. Now how much units per year a TV set sales are? wayyyy less. Why? first TVs (HDTV) are way more expensive and people tend to KEEP it for many years until upgrade it.
Unlikely the iMac that is a computer, have a TV with AppleTV (iTV) on it makes even less sense for people to buy and have a piece of hardware that will be obsolete in couple of years and then have to buy it all over again. Come on guys is that so hard to see?

It makes business $en$e for Apple to go after the cell phone market (people upgrade it constantly just like the iPod), it doesn't for the TV (HDTV) set market.

A large Cinema Display with a possible TV capability is more likely than a stand alone Apple HDTV set or AIO IMHO.

The AppleTV(iTV) is where I think Apple will develop their technology. To bring content to your TV set in the living room from your Mac. I see it as way more interesting thing to bring more switchers to the Mac and make you digital life style more complete.

Huh? Front Row is an app, not remotely a version of an OS, and doesn't have any bearing on if Apple were to make a TV, one way or the other.

TVs are actually quite a bit like computer displays, and ever more so. The distinctions used to be resolution, progressive vs. interlaced, connectivity and tuners. Resolution and P vs I are no longer factors, connectivity is trivial and tuners are becoming something that happens in external boxes.

But that still doesn't have any bearing on whether or not Apple could or should make a TV. The only question is whether Apple can bring anything to the table that would make such an item desirable, and whether or not they could sell enough of them to be worth the investment and shelf space.

Talk of convergence notwithstanding, I still haven't seen a single reason, outside of "integrated front row", for why an Apple branded TV would be desirable. TVs display, they switch between inputs, they have some settings to tweak. Not really an elaborate technology crying out for Apple interface mojo. You don't really hear anyone saying "I would consider getting a plasma, but they're just so damn hard to use....."

The hard part is the part that Apple is doing: organizing the digital media, providing ways to move it around, providing on-screen interface for same. It's called "Apple TV + Mac".

Again, Apple TV provides everything you want in Apple inflected large screen displays, and it does it for every display out there.

And, again, if the idea is that Apple starts putting more and more of the Apple TV + Mac experience into the display itself, then what you are moving towards is a watered down iMac, or a really huge screened full-on iMac.

That may yet happen, but it sort of moots the idea of Apple making a large screen HT type display, since such a beast would be a new Apple living room appliance intended to bridge the whole computer/living room divide with an iPhone type graphic interface on top of an actual computer.

So what I'm saying is that there is no reason for Apple to make "just" a large screen display, since that area is handled quite nicely by existing product and Apple TV adds the interconnectivity with Macs, and once you start moving beyond "just" a display, at least for Apple, you pretty quickly get into AIO computer territory which Apple already does.

So will Apple make a really big iMac? Who know? But that's another conversation.

Thanks Addabox!
very good post.

I don't know if Apple will make a TV but you got to admitt it's a bit more probable since keynote.

why? what happened there that makes it so probable?

Apple seems to be evolving into a electronics company and away from computers. Doers that mean they will make a tv? Not necessarily but it seems more probable as they now are more than just a computer maker and have officially changed the name of the company to reflect this reality.

Well, they're not just becoming a CE company in the general sense, wherein they must offer a version of all the things that, for instance, Sony makes. I can't see them making camcorders or printers or projectors or dvd players or, obviously, TVs. The iPhone doesn't change that, it clarifies it.

What they will make are items that can leverage the power of their computer ecosystem to simplify the distribution, modification and creation of digital media. That's the common thread in everything they have done to date, and it makes great sense for Apple. Extend the ecosystem, sell more Macs as hubs, make Apple media handling software ubiquitous.

So, DVR, or DVR functionality? Seems possible. Multifunction remote? Sure. Remotes are the perfect ground for Apple to step in and rethink how they work and what they do. Some kind of small tablet, based on a lot of the same tech as the iPhone? I think the iPhone definitely makes that more possible, although probably not in the way we expect.

TV? Doesn't fit the matrix.

What if you build the DVR and Apple TV into the HD display? Add in a smart remote. No I don't think they just make a TV.

then after couple of years you have a whole obsolete set because of AppleTV and DVR.
People like to keep their TVs longer. Specially if you pay good money for it. It's not like most computer and other consumer electronics that every two to 3 years you get a new one.
That's an issue when you go AIO.
Let's say imagine that tomorrow Apple makes a 50" HDTV with the current AppleTV(iTV) set up built-in it. then in 1 or 2 years they have a new AppleTV(iTV) with 1080p support. then guess what, you are stuck with and inferior product and your HDTV is just fine.

How is that any different than buying an HDTV that only displays a max of 720p? Last I checked thay were selling just fine. Your points are valid but one must consider the advantages of AIO design which simplifies the experience for the user. There are pros and cons each way but we know Apple's view on this. They like AIO design.

sure, 720p are selling well. and they will continue. There are people who buys TVs that are not even HDTV, like standard res.
AIO are great for some products like computers(iMac), some printer/fax/scanner combos, etc...
The point I am making is why would you pay $3k to $7k for a great HDTV set (hi-end) and have a built-in that could make it obsolete sooner than later.
Basicaly, I think anobody that's looking into purchase a hi-end HDTV wants it to last longer than 3 to 4 years.
If Apple ever makes a HDTV will be an expensive item that somebody wants to keep for awhile.

don't you know how to read?
I would think after 2,277 posts you have a grasp of how this forum works.
just a hint, I am replying to my friend backtomac. do you get it now?

Ireland,
I am glad we are agreeing at least on something.
Just one comment:
"Those are some lofty prices there" the prices mentioned are not that far out. Go to any website and look for 40" + HDTV hi-end, Pioneer, Sony and many others. $3K to $7k are pretty much what they cost for 1080p.
Apple usually charge a premium for their products, so I would not be surprise if they ever come up with such TV they will charge accordingly.