An Apple HDTV Under Your Tree?

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles
April 14, 2011 | Comments (2)

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The Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL ) rumor that will not die is clawing its way out of the grave again.

In a note to clients yesterday, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White predicts that Apple will roll out a Web-tethered television in time for this year's holiday shopping season.

This has nothing to do with the pure speculation of an Apple video subscription service that was brought up by Jefferies senior technology analyst Peter Misek earlier this week. White's forecast is closer to what Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has been predicting for years. We're talking about a full-blown, big-ticket flat-screen TV.

White isn't divulging his sources, but he's at an electronics trade show in China. Is this a case of a supplier's loose lips revealing Apple's hand early, or is someone playing a cruel prank on White?

Apple wouldn't be the first computer heavy that wants to be a TV star. Dell (Nasdaq: DELL ) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ ) figured that selling high-def flat screens was just an evolutionary step from selling PC monitors. HP was even ahead of its time, introducing its Wi-Fi-backed MediaSmart television five years ago.

Dell and HP took their lumps. They still sell LCD televisions on their sites, but we're talking about third-party TVs now.

Apple's smart TV would probably be closer to the television line that Sony (NYSE: SNE ) put out late last year, powered by Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG ) Google TV platform. It would run Apple's iOS, opening it up to the App Store ecosystem and FaceTime video chat.

Hopefully, Apple will learn from some of Google's initial miscues. Google TV hasn't been a hit since its autumn launch. Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI ) marked down its Google TV Revue boxes after just two months on the market. Sony just shaved $200 off its 40-inch and 46-inch TV models this month.

Are the Google TV allies simply reacting to market demand, or are these price cuts a proactive move to either scare off Apple or to go mainstream before Apple turns Munster and White into visionaries by actually putting out a Web-savvy TV?

Stay tuned and add Apple to Your Watchlist to get the latest news and commentary!

How much would you pay for an Apple television? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

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Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz may buy an Apple television, but he's taking advantage of the 40-inch Google TV dropping to $799 this week. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Report this Comment On April 15, 2011, at 12:46 AM, iParadigm2watch wrote:

Well written. Good reference points. I liked the read enough to post my .02 cents :-)
Apple ( iOS ) is now a platform! The full implications of this will unfold within the next five years.
As in the early days of the Microsoft, the mind-set, the fervor for Windows OS, the movement, if you will; has shifted to Apple. What Apple does with it, we will see.
I feel we are all participating in a paradigm. Apple started it. Go argue with someone else about that statement. We all see, or at the very least, suspect the way we communicate and share media, has changed. Affected primarily by one company.
Apple is producing the first truly twenty-first century products in the device arena. ..imitation is the highest form of flattery...competition is good...
This article points out the leading companies in the arena...Who will be around in 9 years. Not an arbitrary time frame. Marketing, pent-up demand have it's own kind of Moors law.
Humans want smart phones, devices.
As the market matures, this time around in the mobil, cloud, or whatever the traveled avenue of content, Apple will dominate as Microsoft dominated the PC operating system. History is on Apples side on this one. Seldom is the leader in a "brand recognition" sensitive industry, loose the lead. To quote someone that wrote: Pepsi will never catch Coke. Nestle will always be second to Hershey and so on.....
Apple caught this wave.
They worked for it!
They own it.
Apples iOS is the future dominant platform.
Talk to me; when by Q2, 2013, Apple having sold
no fewer than one billion iOS devices, ( yes, that is 1 billion ),
Apples North Carolina servers are at 24 petabyte function and expanding, 2016 looming on the horizon, sales of 2 billion iOS devices predicted. ( I think the analysts will fall in. Line on this one)...
You can probably add what I have missed!
This company is on a tear! If it really is all about mind-set, the minds are really setting these days.
Apple is innovative. That is really all there is to it.
Oh did I forget to mention the 50,000 people working for Apple, who are really, really firing on all cylinders.
If Steve Jobs' gift, really is building a company, then Apple is well positioned to function without him.
Don't sell Apple short on this CEO deal. For this company to come this far, these people have a plan. All things must pass....or so it goes....

So..it would seem your article inspired this post..he..he...I could not resist. Who would agree with me anyway? namaste'
good writers on the Fool....
namaste'
Far fetched?
Report this Comment On April 15, 2011, at 1:18 AM, SimchaStein wrote:

Oh boy. This story excites. Again that giant GPU in the A5 chip? Surely they have big plans. Why not?
Apple redefined MP3 players, SmartPhones, and tablets. Why not TVs? The SW and content ecosystem around iOS is robust - hint it's not about the massive number of Aps - it's about people making money. The demand for iOS developers is the higher than Android or RIM. It's a great job skill, even in a recession.
Best of all, the TV market supports premium products. People love high-end TVs - for their own pleasure and for showing off.
Could this add another $100 to Apple's stock price?

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