The much-rumoured Apple iTV could launch sometime in the latter half of this year, potentially revolutionising the current TV experience, according to a market analyst.
Brian White from Topeka Capital Markets, attributed with several accurate details about pre-launch Apple products in the past, has been attending meetings with Chinese and Taiwanese supply chain sources, during which he acquired information about the Apple iTV.
According to his unnamed sources, the Apple iTV will launch in the second half of 2013 and will pack some ground-breaking new features.
“Our meeting with an [sic] tech supply chain company suggests to us that a full blown Apple ‘iTV’ will launch in the latter part of 2013,” wrote White in a note to investors. “The iTV ecosystem represents a major innovation… that will revolutionise the TV experience forever.”
In February, Apple hired an OLED expert from LG named James (Jueng-jil) Lee, a senior researcher at the company’s OLED Technology Development for TV Application unit, which added hype to the rumours that Apple is developing the Apple iTV.
White’s information is bound to add further furore to the already raging rumour mill, especially as he discovered key details about the Apple iTV features.
“First of all, we believe iTV will be 60-inches in size (but could also include 50 – 55 inch options). Secondly, we believe Apple will release a miniature device called iRing that will be placed on a user’s finger and act as a navigation pointer for iTV, enhancing the motion detection experience and negating some of the functionality find in a remote.”
The rumoured Apple iWatch could also compliment the iRing in this way, and could provide interactions between the iTV and the iWatch and iRing combo for making phone calls in some manner.
“Thirdly, iTV will come with a mini iTV screen that will seamlessly allow users to view content on this smaller, 9.7-inch screen, while also opening up use cases around home security, phone calls, video conferencing and other areas.”
“As part of this experience, Siri and FaceTime will be important. Essentially, we believe the mini iTV screens will be able to capture content from the 60-inch iTV across a distance of up to 200 metres, allowing a user to view iTV content in the kitchen, washroom, garage, bedroom, backyard etc.”
White believes that one mini iTV would be bundled with each iTV package, with support for up to four of the devices. It is not known whether an iPad or iPhone could be utilised in such a fashion.
Depending on the amount of mini iTVs in the package and the screen size, the Apple iTV is rumoured to cost between $1,500 - $2,500, equating to a rather reasonable £990 - £1650, especially seeing as it is an Apple product.
Via: BGR
