Foxconn denies CEO spoke about Apple television

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
Foxconn has issued a public statement to deny that its chief executive made comments about preparing for a rumored Apple television.

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou was originally cited last week by China Daily as having said his company was "making preparations" for an Apple television, though development or manufacturing had not yet begun. The English-language newspaper has a daily circulation of more than 500,000 in China.

But on Monday, Foxconn provided a written statement to TheNextWeb, in which it said Gou neither confirmed or speculated about the company's involvement in the production of any product. It is Foxconn's policy not to comment on any customers or their products.

"Any reports that Foxconn confirmed that it is preparing to produce a specific product for any customer are not accurate," the statement said.

Foxconn is one of Apple's biggest partners, responsible for the the bulk of the assembly of virtually all of Apple's hardware, including the iPhone, iPad, iPods and Macs.

Apple TV


While Foxconn did not issue any comments about a possible Apple television, the company did forge a deal with LCD maker Sharp in March, giving it a 10 percent stake in the company for $808 million. That deal has sparked speculation that Sharp and Foxconn have teamed up to produce panels for an anticipated television set from Apple.

Foxconn has been the source of a handful of Apple-related leaks over the years, though none of them have come from public comments by any of the company's executives. Last April, three employees of Foxconn were charged with leaking the design of Apple's iPad 2 before it was announced, and various prototype devices, including a 64-gigabyte iPhone 4, have leaked out of the company's factories without authorization.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member


    Yep. Nothin' to see here. They're not making a TV. They're not buying a TV company.


     


    Give it a rest. The iPhone nano got a good run, too. It's time to kill this nonsense.

  • Reply 2 of 25
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member


    OK. This confirms the fact that the TV is on its way.

  • Reply 3 of 25
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    OK. This confirms the fact that the TV is on its way.



    Which will not be assembled by Foxconn... now.

  • Reply 4 of 25
    rokradrokrad Posts: 143member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Which will not be assembled by Foxconn... now.



    Well technically Foxconn only stated that the reports of the CEO speaking out were false. They said nothing else like they were or were not manufacturing TV's

  • Reply 5 of 25
    notscottnotscott Posts: 247member


    Snore... who cares?


     


    I already have a TV called the iPad, another one called the iPhone, a third called my MacBook, and an iPod for my daughter. This is where we watch stuff now. Oh, and on a Sony HDTV sometimes.

  • Reply 6 of 25


    Retina display baby!  Yeah!

  • Reply 7 of 25
    bikertwinbikertwin Posts: 566member


    So The China Daily was wrong? They misquoted?


     


    Or Foxconn is just claiming this never happened?


     


    So you can now say something, and a week later claim you never said it, and then it's supposed to not have been said.


     


    How absurd.

  • Reply 8 of 25
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member


    Yeah, good luck finding 'retina' content. Maybe in 2050. 

  • Reply 9 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post

    Yeah, good luck finding 'retina' content. Maybe in 2050. 


     


    I say 2k will start broadcasting in… let's see… 2017. Then Super Hi-Vision in Japan in 2022 and everywhere else just after 2030.


     


    Apple making retina Macs (not this year, but easily before 2015) will be a catalyst in higher resolution video. Believe you me.

  • Reply 10 of 25


    I DID NOT have business relations with THAT TV company.

  • Reply 11 of 25
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Yep. Nothin' to see here. They're not making a TV. They're not buying a TV company.

    Give it a rest. The iPhone nano got a good run, too. It's time to kill this nonsense.
    Just cuz you think a TV is a dumb idea doesn't mean Apple isn't making one. If Apple had no plans of going there I think we would have gotten hints fromTim Cook by now (ala dismissing the MacBook Air/iPad convergence).
  • Reply 12 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post

    Just cuz you think a TV is a dumb idea doesn't mean Apple isn't making one.




    I realize that. However, it's a dumb idea on the face of it. Apple's not in the market of releasing pointless crap. What can a $2,000 panel, whose quality I cannot choose and whose connectivity is in question, whose market does not exist to make money, and for which I would then have to deal with replacing any existing televisions, do that a $99 box already on the market and proven to be a profitable solution cannot?


     


    I've never actually gotten a reply to that question.


     


    Quote:


     If Apple had no plans of going there I think we would have gotten hints fromTim Cook by now (ala dismissing the MacBook Air/iPad convergence).



     


    Apple neither confirms nor denies future product speculation. 

  • Reply 13 of 25
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post




    I realize that. However, it's a dumb idea on the face of it. Apple's not in the market of releasing pointless crap. What can a $2,000 panel, whose quality I cannot choose and whose connectivity is in question, whose market does not exist to make money, and for which I would then have to deal with replacing any existing televisions, do that a $99 box already on the market and proven to be a profitable solution cannot?


     


    I've never actually gotten a reply to that question.



     


    There ARE actually Apple fans that would buy a reasonably decent Apple branded TV with an aTV baked into it.  The margins and ASP would be high even if volume low.


     


    Unlikely though.  Cook and Apple stock would get hammered for a "failed" product launch.


     


    I still think that pushing AirPlay on a chip to HDTV manufacturers would be the way to go to conquor the living room.  aTV itself is pretty much redundant if you had a late model iOS device.  If nearly every HDTV made could do AirPlay and it was locked to the iOS ecosystem then that's huge win.  I can imagine that an encrypted wireless video chain required to meet DRM needs...that also happened to lock out unlicensed devices (*cough*Android*cough*).

  • Reply 14 of 25
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rokrad View Post


    Well technically Foxconn only stated that the reports of the CEO speaking out were false. They said nothing else like they were or were not manufacturing TV's



     


    So, did he or did he not say that? Shouldn't the CEO say that he didn't say it? Otherwise, we've got three people saying stuff. Chinese Whispers to a T.


     


    Chinese Media says he said this.


    CEO may or may not have said it.


    Company PR says he didn't say it.


     


    What the heck is going on here?

  • Reply 15 of 25
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by nht View Post


     


    There ARE actually Apple fans that would buy a reasonably decent Apple branded TV with an aTV baked into it.  The margins and ASP would be high even if volume low.


     


    Unlikely though.  Cook and Apple stock would get hammered for a "failed" product launch.


     


    I still think that pushing AirPlay on a chip to HDTV manufacturers would be the way to go to conquor the living room.  aTV itself is pretty much redundant if you had a late model iOS device.  If nearly every HDTV made could do AirPlay and it was locked to the iOS ecosystem then that's huge win.  I can imagine that an encrypted wireless video chain required to meet DRM needs...that also happened to lock out unlicensed devices (*cough*Android*cough*).



     


    All Apple needs to do is beef up the processors, make a controller, flick a switch, and Boom! AppleTV running apps (besides included apps, which is an excellent start) and game console. Who needs an Apple television?

  • Reply 16 of 25
    nvidia2008nvidia2008 Posts: 9,262member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post


    I DID NOT have business relations with THAT TV company.



     


    Heh. Liked. (Nice feature on this new forum system)

  • Reply 17 of 25
    bmason1270bmason1270 Posts: 258member
    Yep. Nothin' to see here. They're not making a TV. They're not buying a TV company.

    Give it a rest. The iPhone nano got a good run, too. It's time to kill this nonsense.

    You know what I would love for people to give a rest? To NEVER EVER say in this forum again, "nothin to see here".

    It isn't really a comment and is simply snarky and a cliche now. The phrase on this forums played people!
  • Reply 18 of 25
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bmason1270 View Post

    You know what I would love for people to give a rest? To NEVER EVER say in this forum again, "nothin to see here".

    It isn't really a comment and is simply snarky and a cliche now. The phrase on this forums played people!


     


    So you're saying that there's nothing to see in your post of any worth. Got it. 


     


    Or maybe you don't want to hear the phrase "got it" ever again, too. image

  • Reply 19 of 25
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    OK. This confirms the fact that the TV is on its way.



     


    Or not. 


     


    Folks really need to get off this notion that when someone denies something it is really a wink wink confirmation. 


     


    Perhaps Apple is working on a TV, perhaps they are not. Perhaps Foxconn is assembling it and spoke out of turn, perhaps they are not and it was a total misquote. Perhaps this CEO actually said something to the effect that IF Apple should decide to make a tv set they are fully prepared to build it if they are asked to do so. Perhaps he said nothing of any kind. 

  • Reply 20 of 25
    bikertwinbikertwin Posts: 566member

    I realize that. However, it's a dumb idea on the face of it. Apple's not in the market of releasing pointless crap. What can a $2,000 panel, whose quality I cannot choose and whose connectivity is in question, whose market does not exist to make money, and for which I would then have to deal with replacing any existing televisions, do that a $99 box already on the market and proven to be a profitable solution cannot?

    I've never actually gotten a reply to that question.
    I replied in the Loewe thread.

    Although Apple likes to talk about the software being most important, it really is oth the software and good use of hardware that solves problems.

    What're the biggest pain points in TV today? Hardware-wise, it's 3-fold:
    1. Multiple Remotes. One for the TV/input. One for audio. One for cable. One for BluRay/DVD. One for DVR. One for gaming machine. One for Apple TV. There are universal remotes, but they either suck or cost as much as an iPod touch.
    2. Multiple boxes. See above. (cable/DVR, audio amplifier, DVD/Blu-ray, game machine, Apple TV box, oh yeah, and the TV).
    3. Cables! OMG, the cables. Ugly. Complicated to setup or, god forbid, change when you get a new cable or game box.

    None of these issues are solved by an Apple TV box--it just adds to the problem.

    A true Apple television solves all these problems, assuming cable "channels" are apps and cable service becomes a dumb transport for the Internet.

    I just thought of something. What if Apple created a Channel Producer application, like iBooks Author, that let you create your own cable channel app?!It would be like podcasting for your TV combined with local service channels. Sure, there'd be a lot of crap, but there are many talented people who create great podcasts. They could redirect their attention to a TV channel. It would put a lot of pressure on larger cable channels to release their content as apps/channels instead of only through the cable companies.

    Apple TV already has podcasts as an option to view, but it's rudimentary and almost an afterthought. What if it became front and center?

    First podcasting, then iBooks Author, and now tv channels. Apple is big on disintermediating the big media conglomerates from production of content.
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