Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Apple HDTV vs. Apple TV HD

Apple HDTV vs. Apple TV HD -

Everyone's favorite and always accurate source, "analysts," have been jumping up and down over the past few days saying, "You guys! You guys! Seriously! Apple's making an HDTV! I'm serious, you guys, it's coming out later this year!"

This is another one of those Rumors that Just Won't Die, right alongside such perennial zombie products as an Apple-branded phone and an Apple-branded tablet -- wait, those products actually exist? Hmm. Well, does that mean the analysts are on to something? Or are they just on something?

Speculation has run wild over this whole Apple HDTV issue, with half the interested parties saying there's absolutely no way Apple will make its own HDTV, ever, and here's the charts and data to prove it, so there. The other half has instead wondered what exactly an HDTV from Apple might be like, and as usual, the feature wishlists exploded into Star Trek fanfiction territory by the end of the afternoon. Starry-eyed wishers have started throwing out phrases like, "Apple will re-define the TV," and "Apple will free us from the tyranny of the cable box" -- all without any proof of the product's existence, or any realistic notions of its specs, features, price, distribution channel, ad infinitum.

Will Apple make an HDTV? At this point I'd say the safe bet is no, but keep in mind that Apple's not exactly a company that's built on safe bets. Lots of people thought the Macintosh would fail in 1984. Instead, it re-invented how the general public interacted with computers. In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod, a product that Slashdot famously dismissed as "lame," and changed how people interact with music. The iPhone and iPad are still sending shock waves through their respective industries. Apple does have a history of stepping into established spaces with existing products and turning the whole thing on its head, but the question is, what can you do to a TV to make it more than a TV?

(Via The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW).)

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