Great post over at Fortune on all of the shaky evidence surrounding Apple’s panel (iPanel?) TV. More to the point, the reasons why Apple wouldn’t choose to make a TV
- The market is crowded with low-cost producers
- The margins are terrible
- The machines are big and heavy and often require professional installation
- They need large retail display areas and lots of warehouse space
- There’s no single global market. (It’s NTSC in the U.S., PAL in Europe.)
- People tend hold on to the TVs for decades. (Apple prefers to sell products that get frequently replaced — every two years for iPhones, every three years or so for Macs.)
- Dealing with the cable companies that control the local delivery of content is like dealing with mob.
What if “Jobs cracked the TV” just means an inexpensive Siri-controlled set-top box that does Airplay really well?
Related articles
- Analyst: Apple could use ‘iTV’ moniker for HDTV, partner with carriers for programming (9to5mac.com)
- Analyst: Apple HDTV components hit Apple’s suppliers, production of 2M to 5M units by May/June (9to5mac.com)
- Unlikely scenario: Analyst says Apple HDTV to be called iPanel, begin production in May (9to5mac.com)
- New Patent details Apple’s work with high refresh rate LCD technology HDTVs (9to5mac.com)
- Use AppleTV to make your HDTV a wireless second monitor (9to5mac.com)
