Speculations have come out that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was reportedly working on an internet-connected Apple TV. Reports were based on the authorized biography of the late CEO of the company, Steve Jobs. Basing on some excerpts from the book, Steve Jobs wanted to provide television sets similar innovations that he provided on phones, music players and computers.
The report also indicated that Jobs wanted to provide the Apple TV a simple user interface which will allow users to do away with the remote control for cable channels and DVD players. However similar reports have emerged in 2009 which suggested that an Apple TV was reportedly being developed by the company although these reports have re-emerged recently with an analyst predicting that an Apple TV will be produced by the company by 2012 or 2013.
According to Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, Apple may have started to work on the Apple TV for some time and with the introduction of the iCloud service, he hinted that the cloud-based storage service will be the ideal means of providing content to the internet-linked Apple TV.
The set-top box Apple TV is already being offered by the company which is connected to a TV and offers digital videos for sale or lease through the iTunes store of Apple. However it has not attained much success in the market.
Some industry watchers indicated that integrating the functionality of the current Apple TV into a stylish TV is achievable for Apple. However the company may have to offer something unique in order for the company to be competitive in the television set industry.
Industry watchers have indicated that the internet-linked Apple TV may not have been introduced since it may not have the business agreements that it needs for the product.
It would be necessary for the company to offer relevant content for the product in the same way it introduced the iPod together with the iTunes store as well as offering consumers a way of acquiring music for their devices legally. The App Store was also created in line with the introduction of the iPhone.
However with the creation of the iTunes store and its App Store resulted to some complications in the way companies did their business in the music industry. This has compelled companies to modify their strategy in the distribution of content in the terms of Apple.
Observers indicated that it will be necessary for Apple to create an ecosystem that would support an internet-linked Apple TV. Movie studios and television networks would unlikely jump into the bandwagon due to the previous experience of content creators.
Unless Apple will be able to have some content deals with the major movie studios and TV networks, it will be unlikely that the internet-connected Apple TV to be released in the near future according to some industry watchers.
