Analyst says Apple HDTV still coming in 2013
updated 03:48 pm EST, Tue January 22, 2013
Claim comes despite doubts elsewhere
Apple is still working to launch a TV set this year with a new remote, says Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster. The analyst tells Bloomberg in an audio interview that the information is based on checks with Asian suppliers. He suggests that Apple is hoping to solve two problems with the set: the first is a better form of remote control, while the second, "down the road," is content on demand.
Munster has predicted the launch of an Apple TV set since at least 2009. In the past couple of years that position has gained traction, mostly because of claims by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in his biography that he had "cracked" a TV interface; at the same time, though, recent reports have cast doubt on a set arriving this year, and the company has struggled with content deals.
Currently the TV industry is based on package deals, in which cable and satellite providers have to buy the rights to several channels at once in order to get what they're really after. That approach is also used when the providers sell channels to consumers. Content-on-demand could therefore undermine many parties, who might also be worried about Apple having the same control of TV as it has with music.
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So Munster is predicting an Apple TV set this year. And a broken (mechanical) clock is right twice a day.
The good news for Munster: eventually he'll either be right and successfully predict the year that Apple releases an Apple TV set. The bad news for Munster: Apple might never release their own TV set, and if they do, and he's eventually right with his yearly prediction, then he'll have to think of some other industry for Apple to disrupt.