Neil Hughes
Trip Chowdhry with Global Equities Research issued a note to investors on Sunday in which he shared his "converged view" on an anticipated Apple HDTV, with information based on details culled from a number of developer events he attended.
Chowdhry said the product that is most similar to Apple's rumored HDTV is the Bose VideoWave, a 46-inch LCD HDTV with an integrated surround-sound speaker system. The VideoWave aims to simplify HDTVs by reducing clutter, and to improve picture and sound quality.
The Bose VideoWave gives the greatest sense of where Apple's alleged HDTV may be heading, Chowdhry claimed. He said his "converged view" of data from various developers is "probably" 75 percent accurate, and that it will "probably" be launched in March of 2012, with developer sessions at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Apple's rumored HDTV is apparently being benchmarked against the VideoWave because it has reduced its number of cables to just three. Chowdhry believes that any television set from Apple would have just one cable.
The VideoWave also sports a thickness of six inches, packing in 16 speakers. Chowdhry said that Apple's purported HDTV will be a third as thick and will also have 16 speakers.
"These 16 built-in speakers gives a complete surround sound experience, without the need for any external speakers," he said.
Bose's HDTV product comes in just one screen size and price point: 46 inches for $5,200. Chowdhry said that an HDTV from Apple will have three screen sizes and three price points.
"The DSP chip in Apple HDTV is a brand new chip based on Apple's acquisition of PA Semi," he added. "As of now, this new chip is not in mass production."
Claims of a forthcoming Apple-branded Internet-connected HDTV are not new, and one report from April even suggested that Apple could release its own television set this year. One analysis issued earlier this month found that Apple's market capitalization could grow by $100 billion if it were to enter the HDTV market.
Charles Martin
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140 Comments
Hang on, let me go refill my 64oz water bottle so I have something to spit out everywhere as I reread this.
THREE models? Three.
Whenabouts would we be seeing Apple's absolutely massive LCD order (in three sizes, no less) in time for manufacturing and shipping of this product for a March release?
Yeah, 36" for $5,200, 46" for $6,200, and 56" for $7,200.
I don't know about these price points. The HDTV market has quickly raced to the bottom, with expensive models and larger screens being more niche products. Plus, the larger the screen, the more quality is an issue. Apple would have to embrace 1080p content. They're all about higher quality screens on Mac and iOS devices, but on AppleTV, they're still stuck in the 720p era.
I'd love to see what Apple has in mind for future TVs, but I'm skeptical.
Hi, I have some baseless speculation about a rumored Apple product.
Not convinced? Allow me to add some utterly made numbers: 3 models, 2" thick, 16 speakers. Can't argue with numbers.
Wait, still not buying it? OK, how about this: my information is likely 75% accurate. Meaning of the four people I ran this by, only one of them was actually drunk at the time.
What a bunch of crap... Like Apple is going to jump right in the middle of HDTVs and offer THREE models all at the same time. Apple's offerings in their computer and phone divisions are limited to 1 or 2, with slight customization. They are not going to suddenly offer 3 models in a market they have never appeared in before.
This rumor of Apple entering the TV arena has been kicked around for years. It might one day become a reality, but for now it is just a means for some know-nothing analyst to make a name for himself.
This is all nothing but a Scientific Wild As*ed Guess!