What if Apple isn’t making an HDTV?

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)