It turns out the rumors are (finally) true: Apple will be selling a television set in the near future. Terry Gou, Foxconn’s chairman and president, gave an interview with China Daily in which he confirmed that the company, which manufactures Apple’s products, is preparing to manufacture the iTV. Foxconn recently entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Sharp Electronics for a factory in Japan, and Gou confirmed that this was one of the preparations for iTV manufacturing.
Though Gou said no development or manufacturing has begun, China Daily repeated claims about many of the features that are already rumored for the device. The iTV will supposedly resemble current Apple Cinema Displays in design, complete with an iSight camera for video calling. Also, a remote remote that uses Siri voice commands and tight integration with other Apple devices over AirPlay are also rumored.
Apple is usually out in front of new markets, yet it seems it will still be quite a while before consumers will get to sit back on their couches and tell Siri to turn on their iTV. Meanwhile, LG already has plans to debut a TV set running Google TV in less than two weeks. It could be that Apple’s supplier problems got the better of them and delayed the iTV project.
What do you think? Is Apple being unfairly hindered by suppliers who are close with competitors such as Samsung? Or was Apple truly late to the connected-TV market? Leave a comment below and let us know.
(China Daily via BGR)