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Steve Jobs told biographer he 'cracked' the secret to a simple HDTV

The forthcoming biography of Steve Jobs reveals that he worked to build an integrated, easy-to-use Apple television set, and that he felt he had "cracked" the concept for such a device.

The details from Walter Isaacson's book, set to arrive next week, are the latest indication that Apple plans to eventually release a connected HDTV set, as has been rumored for some time. According to The Washington Post, Jobs's vision was for a connected TV that would be synced with all of a user's devices, and with Apple's iCloud service.

The simplified HDTV would spare users from having to use complex remotes for multiple devices like DVD players and cable boxes. Isaacson wrote that Jobs "wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant."

"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," Jobs was quoted as saying. "I finally cracked it."

Rumors of an HDTV from Apple have existed for years, though before the alleged comments from Jobs, there has been little evidence to support that Apple is planning to build such a device in the immediate future. In late 2010, Apple redesigned its Apple TV set top box to run on the same ARM-based processor and lightweight iOS operating system found in the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

One recent report in July claimed that Apple will launch a total of three HDTV models by March of 2012, with three different screen sizes and price points. A recent update to the Apple TV already offers console-style gaming with the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S via wireless AirPlay.