Those are the questions that have been surrounding the rumored (at this point mythic) Apple HDTV. Yearly predictions about the manufacture and shipping of an Apple ‘iTV‘ have repeatedly been proven false.

Last year, cable companies were (plausibly) blamed for the product’s delay after pressing for a large amount of control over content during negotiations with Apple.

At the beginning of 2013, analysts began switching up their game, predicting that the iTV would not be appearing during the coming year.

This week, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White has been quoted by BGR as saying, once again, that the iTV will launch in the second half of 2013.

The analyst states the HDTV will 60 inches, with smaller sizes also available. He goes on to speculate that the device will come with an “iRing” finger interface device for the TV and a portable 9.7-inch tablet-like “mini-iTV” which can display content from the larger screen. White prices the TV set packages at around $1,500 to $2,500.

So, those are the latest rumors about the fabled “iTV.” There’s even a possibility that they could even be accurate this time, but gamblers would be wise to place their bets elsewhere. The Brian White who outlined this week’s rumors is the same Brian White who relayed rumors that Sharp would begin shipping LCD display panels to Foxconn at the end of last summer.

This week, an anti-rumor has surfaced that suggests the Apple HDTV might still be a long way off. The research arm of BTIG released its predictions for 2013 today, and one of the big predictions is that Apple will not release its long-awaited TV set this year. BTIG states that the device is being delayed by the logistics of providing nationwide coverage, digital right management concerns, and legal concerns over net neutrality. All of these issues stem from the strong content monopoly cable companies have enjoyed for decades, and fit with previous rumors that cable companies are holding up the next big revolution in television.

In a more upbeat prediction, BTIG has also predicted that Apple will launch an internet radio service to compete with Pandora and Spotify. This “iRadio” would be integrated with iTunes to provide links for music and concert ticket purchases.

(via BGR)

While manufacturers will be excited enough about the new technology to increase production, it is not predicted that consumer demand will rise at the same rate. Gartner’s new report suggests that manufacturers will have to offer “compelling reasons” for consumers to choose their brand.

“In the end, the choice may be all about the extra content that one TV brand offers over another,” said Paul O’Donovan, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Consumers will be asking questions such as, which Internet TV services can the TV access? Are these the sites I think are valuable? Can I use my smartphone or tablet with this TV? It is critical for the TV industry during this global economic downturn and decline in consumer confidence levels, to sustain sales and maintain or grow market share – especially in emerging markets. This is difficult when demand has slowed, so the extra functionality offered by smart TVs becomes the product differentiator – if prices are already competitive and all other variables are equal between brands.”

These predictions follow an entire year of rumors that tech’s biggest brand, Apple, will be entering the flat-panel TV with an iOS-based HDTV. The rumors have persisted through reports that manufacturing troubles and cable company stonewalling have delayed the release of the device.

If the cable industry continues to overvalue its content and delay the merger of computers and television, the television industry might not have the luxury of an Apple-led, iTunes-like push into a new business model. With YouTube channels now reaching subscriber numbers in the millions, traditional networks may end up regretting their stubbornness when most customers have “smart” TVs in 2016.

Today, those rumors are confirmed, and it turns out that cable companies are even more paranoid about controlling their content than was commonly believed. Bloomberg cites a “person familiar with [Apple's] plans” as saying analyst predictions of a fall release for the Apple HDTV were premature. It seems none of them took the cable companies’ stubbornness into account.

According to Bloomberg, there were two huge stumbling blocks preventing the negotiations from being successful. One was that cable companies insisted the Apple device be rented to consumers through cable providers, the way poor-quality DVRs and cable boxes currently are. The second is that cable companies wanted a say in the user interface software running on the device. Apple’s user interface. Given their history and business model, the user experience with an Apple product is obviously not something the company is prepared to negotiate on.

This demonstrates that even a company such as Apple, which changed (some would say saved) the music industry and revolutionized the tech industry in the past decade, can have the technology and design acumen to improve TV but still be stopped by entrenched, decades-old industries that refuse to embrace their growing obsolescence.

Whether or not that is actually the case, it is known that the “iTV” is on the way, and it’s is well-known that Apple is currently in talks with cable companies over distributing their content. An analyst who recently spoke with Apple executives has said that the outcome of those talks, unfortunately, could mean the difference between a sooner iTV release and a later one.

Fortune today quoted a memo by Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves, stating that an iTV is “extremely unlikely in the near term.” Fortune quotes Hargreaves’ memo:

Relative to the television market, Eddy Cue, Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services, reiterated the company’s mantra that it will enter markets where it feels it can create great customer experiences and address key problems. The key problems in the television market are the poor quality of the user interface and the forced bundling of pay TV content, in our view. While Apple could almost certainly create a better user interface, Mr. Cue’s commentary suggested that this would be an incomplete solution from Apple’s perspective unless it could deliver content in a way that is different from the current multichannel pay TV model.

Unfortunately for Apple and for consumers, acquiring rights for traditional broadcast and cable network content outside of the current bundled model is virtually impossible because the content is owned by a relatively small group of companies that have little interest in alternative models for their most valuable content. The differences in regional broadcast content and the lack of scale internationally also create significant hurdles that do not seem possible to cross at this point.

It’s clear that Apple intends to revolutionize the TV industry the same way it did the music industry. To do this, though, Apple is going to have to break up the huge multi-channel packages cable companies currently offer. These are the same packages that keep many less-watched cable channels on the air. When a-la-carte viewing and pricing finally does come into effect, the cable industry will inevitably contract.

Whatever Apple is offering cable content distributors, they would be wise to take it, as it could be their only lifeline to a new business model. A contraction of the cable industry would be better for it than a future where it doesn’t exist, replaced by individual channels creating, marketing, and selling their own content. As entertainment shifts steadily toward streaming and social content, time is running out for cable companies to change direction on their own.

These proclamations are based on a research note to investors released this week by Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. According to Forbes, Misek came to his conclusions based on supply chain analysis. Misek points out that Hon Hai’s July revenues went up, which is odd for that month. This and the fact that supply chain projections of planned iPad builds have been raised to 30 million units for the December quarter convince him that Hon Hai is already manufacturing the iPad Mini.

As for the iTV, Misek bases his speculation on data from Sharp, Hon Hai, and JDS Uniphase (JDSU), the makers of motion control modules found in Microsoft’s Kinect. JDSU has said it has a new living room based, non-gaming customer. Misek believes that this refers to Apple’s iTV, which he said is in full production.

This morning, more details about what Apple wants a DVR and set-top box device to do were released. The timing of these two stories suggests that Apple might be looking to strike deals with cable companies in an effort to make the iTV and all-in-one solution for network, cable, and streaming TV.

Though Misek believes the iTV could be out by the end of the year, he doesn’t believe the official announcement will come soon. Forbes stated that he expects the September 12th Apple press conference to reveal the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini, with the iTV announcement coming sometime in the future.

The information comes from a Chinese news site via Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White. It seems that the news site – 21cbh.com – spoke with several sources at Sharp, all of whom claimed that the company’s LCD panels have been ordered and will be shipped to Foxconn next quarter.

The idea that Sharp could be the supplier of LCD panels for the Apple TV (or iTV, as it’s occasionally called), has been around for a few months now. Back in March we brought you news that Foxconn’s parent company, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., had purchased a 10% stake in Sharp, a move that would allow Sharp to offset billions of dollars in potential losses next quarter.

Of course, Apple’s largest manufacturing partner buying a stake in a display company set off rumors about the Apple TV. Those rumors were bolstered earlier this week by news that Hon Hai may be preparing to make yet another investment in Sharp.

There have been rumors of Apple diving into the television market with its own HDTV for several years now. Over the last 8 months or so, though, those rumors have been growing consistently more intense and, on the whole, more credible, due in part to statements in Steve Jobs’s biography that an Apple television was among Jobs’s last projects with Apple, and Job’s claim that just before he left Apple he finally “cracked it.”

The majority of the rumors about the Apple TV have suggested a release sometime in the late third or early fourth quarter of this year, which White’s information supports. If so, it looks like some of us will have to make some room on our Christmas lists this year.

In fact, according to one recent estimate, Apple may be in the midst of the most profitable year ever. Not Apple’s most profitable year ever, mind you. According to Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White, Apple may be on its way to the most profitable year ever had by any publicly traded company ever.

White argued that the $500 billion market cap mark won’t be the kind of barrier for Apple that it has historically been for other companies, who reach that point and find further growth difficult. While other such companies have enjoyed near-monopolies in their areas (e.g., Microsoft’s share of the PC market, Intel’s share of the processor market). Apple doesn’t have anything approaching a monopoly of the smartphone market. The tablet market, meanwhile, is of Apple’s own making and is just two years old, meaning there is plenty of room for further growth.

Based on that, White says, Apple’s potential for growth is huge. Indeed, he claims they could reach a market cap in the trillions, and profits as much as six times that of other tech companies that reached the $500 billion market cap point.

With a new iPad and a refreshed line of MacBook computers – including a new model with retina display – already out, a new iPhone on the way, and maybe even an iPad Mini and iTV coming this year, it’s easy to see White’s point.

Those rumors have gained new life today on news that Hon Hai is preparing to make another major investment in Sharp. According to a report by Reuters, Hon Hai and Sharp are currently negotiating a deal whereby Hon Hai will purchase even more of Sharp’s shares. In the past week Sharp’s stock has taken a significant dip, prompting the company to approach Hon Hai again.

It is, of course, entirely possible that these investments have nothing at all to do with Apple’s HDTV (usually dubbed either the iTV or the Apple TV). After all, not everything about Foxconn is also Apple related. On the other hand, Foxconn is Apple’s main manufacturer for iOS devices, and these deals do provide a shortcut between Sharp and Apple, should Apple decide to use Sharp’s LCD displays in the iTV.

Nevertheless, expectations for this year’s keynote are running high, and with good reason. There have been a lot of rumors zipping about in the last few weeks, and if even half of them are true, it’s going to be a big day.

With that in mind, here is what we know so far about what we should expect from Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote. But first, a disclaimer: WWDC is a software conference. Strictly speaking, the focus isn’t on hardware. That means that all we’re guaranteed from today’s keynote is iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Anything else is just gravy. Though as you’ll see, there’s reason to expect a sizable helping of gravy.

iOS 6

The first of the two guarantees for today’s keynote is iOS 6. Even though the new iPhone isn’t coming out for another 3-4 months, Apple will be unveiling the latest version of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch’s operating system today. While it’s been treated as a given for some time that iOS 6 would be on today’s menu, we got the best confirmation we could want short of an official statement from Apple on Friday. An Instagram user managed to catch a picture of workers raising a giant iOS 6 banner inside Moscone West, the San Francisco venue for WWDC 2012.

So, iOS 6 has been confirmed, but what should we expect from iOS 6? Well, the biggest news is a new Maps app. Back in May it was reported that Apple was preparing to ditch Google Maps as the source for the iOS Maps app and replace it with mapping data developed in-house by the three mapping companies Apple began purchasing in 2009 (just a year after Google launched Android). Since that initial report there have been several additional leaks confirming a new Maps app. According to the reports, the new app will be largely the same in terms of interface, but will sport a hyper-realistic 3D mode. Check out a mockup of the new app below:

But that’s not all we should expect from iOS 6. Speaking at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference at the end of May, Apple CEO Tim Cook all but promised that iOS would be getting Facebook integration soon. Later reports have appeared to confirm that, saying that iOS 6′s system-wide Facebook integration will be much like the Twitter integration introduced last year with iOS 5.

While reports suggest that iOS 6 won’t actually look much different from iOS 5 on the surface, Apple appears to have completely rewritten all of the stock iOS apps – Weather, Clock, Contacts, Calendar, etc. – in addition to Maps. While details are a little thin, the new versions of the apps are expected to have some pretty remarkable new features, and a slightly different user interface.

During the same D10 session mentioned above, Tim Cook also strongly hinted that there would be major improvements to Siri coming soon. Though he was, naturally, coy about the details, it’s a fair bet that with iOS 6 Siri will be losing her “beta” label, and getting several new features and performance improvements. Though it may be too much to hope for Apple to release Siri’s APIs to developers, it’s certainly possible.

Finally, iOS 6 will be getting some of the same improvements to existing features that are about to be rolled out with OS X Mountain Lion, including a Do Not Disturb feature for Notifications, Mail VIPs, and iCloud Tabs. The Do Not Disturb mode is pretty self-explanatory: it temporarily disables notifications from popping up while you’re, say, watching a movie or trying to sleep (nobody appreciates waking up to a Words With Friends notification at 3 in the morning, after all). Mail VIPs makes it easier to find and read mail from your selected list of VIPs, and iCloud Tabs allows you to see from one version of Safari (mobile or desktop) the tabs you’ve got open in all versions of Safari.

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

There actually hasn’t been a lot of detail surface about Mountain Lion since Apple made the original (and quite unexpected) announcement earlier this year. That said, here’s what we know. Mountain Lion will be releasing sometime later this summer (possibly this month). It will include OS-wide Twitter integration like iOS 5, though surprisingly there has been no hint of Facebook integration making the jump to OS X. It will be getting a variety of sharing options including Flickr and Vimeo. It will also feature Message, an app that syncs with iMessage on your iPhone and iPad. While there’s currently a beta available for OS X Lion, that beta will stop working after Mountain Lion launches, making Messages a Mountain Lion-only product.

Mountain Lion will be continuing the tradition Apple began with OS X 10.7 Lion last year of bringing iOS features “back to the Mac.” Consequently, Mountain Lion will be getting Notification Center, Reminders, and Notes, in addition to the aforementioned Twitter integration. There have also been recent rumors that the Dictation feature that made its way to the iPad in March will also be coming to Mountain Lion.

Another new Mountain Lion feature will be Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a security feature that allows you to lock down your Mac so that only software from the Mac App Store can be installed. You can also set Gatekeeper to allow apps created by participants in Apple’s Developer ID program, or you can turn Gatekeeper off completely, allowing software from any source to be installed. While it’s likely to be popular with businesses and parents, there are those who worry that it’s a step toward making OS X the same sort of walled garden that iOS is.

Finally, there appear to be several new features coming to iCloud. Early last month Apple accidentally made their test of iOS-style banner notifications for the iCloud web interface public. A few days later a beta version of the iCloud web interface revealed that Notes and Reminders apps were being added as well. It’s not certain that these new features will be unveiled at WWDC 2012, but a third report predicted that several major new features would be shown off at the conference, including vast improvements to iCloud’s photo handling and sharing.

New Macs

If you pay much attention to Apple’s product cycles, you may have noticed that while the company has been aggressively updating iOS and its associated devices, and has been incorporating certain features into OS X, there hasn’t been much attention paid to actual Mac hardware. Though the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac lines have gotten feature bumps in recent years, there have been no major upgrades. Indeed, some models – namely the Mac Pro – have been without an upgrade of any kind for years.

According to what we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks, that’s about to change. While there have been rumors since the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010 that Macs would start getting retina displays, it looks like this time it might actually happen. Back in May we started hearing the first serious rumblings of the MacBook Pro getting a retina display. The next day reports surfaced that the same might be true of the MacBook Air and iMac. While nothing has been confirmed, of course, Apple did let a retina display-ready app into the Mac App Store last week.

Last week rumors surfaced that a fourth Mac line would be getting an update. While some believed it would be the Mac Mini, I speculated that the Mac Pro would be the model to get updated, which is in far worse need of an update than the Mac Mini. A report the next day appeared to confirm that it would indeed be the Mac Pro, though there’s little information on what, specifically, will be updated.

Finally, there was a report last week that all these updates we’ve been hearing about for the MacBook Pro might not be headed to the MacBook Pro at all, but to an entirely new line of MacBook. This new MacBook would drop the “Pro” branding, and would get the lion’s share of the upgrades, leaving the MacBook Pro with only a basic feature bump. If it sells well, this new MacBook would eventually replace the current MacBook Pro (which replaced the original MacBook line a few years ago).

New Apple TV OS (and the iTV?)

Last but not least, there have been reports that Apple may show off a new operating system for the Apple TV at this year’s conference. There aren’t many details, but it’s possible that this update is meant to pave the way for the much-rumored iTV, Apple’s entry into the HDTV market. Though there has been some speculation that the iTV itself would be unveiled at this year’s conference, that is not likely.

While little is known about the new Apple TV OS, one exciting detail has been circulated. It seems that Apple may release a software development kit (SDK) for the Apple TV alongside the OS update. That will mean that third-party developers can create apps for the Apple TV. That’s right, the Apple TV (and possibly the iTV?) may finally be getting the App Store.

Conclusions

It’s worth noting again that WWDC is a software developers’ conference, and that the only things that have been confirmed about this year’s keynote are iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. The rest is just speculation, though much of it appears solid. At any rate, we’re less than two hours from the keynote now, when all will be revealed. Until then, you can follow our WWDC 2012 page for more information, and check back for our live coverage of the keynote itself at 1 PM Eastern time.