iTV Is Real, Comes With Siri And FaceTime [RUMOR]

Apple’s HDTV is real, and includes Siri and FaceTime, according to a recent report. The TV is currently in the prototype phase, and is being prepared for a market release later this year. Citing...
iTV Is Real, Comes With Siri And FaceTime [RUMOR]
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Apple’s HDTV is real, and includes Siri and FaceTime, according to a recent report. The TV is currently in the prototype phase, and is being prepared for a market release later this year.

Citing an anonymous source, CultofMac is reporting that Apple’s new TV closely resembles the company’s current line of LED Cinema Displays, except on a much larger scale. While few of the TV’s specs are known, the source does say that it will have Siri integration, a built-in iSight camera that will allow for FaceTime calls, and AirPlay integration.

Check out CultofMac’s mockup of the TV below:

Apple TV iTV Mockup

Rumors of an Apple-branded HDTV have been around at least as far back as the launch of the Apple TV 2 in 2010. Since then, rumors of what is usually called an iTV have surfaced with some regularity. Of course, nothing has ever come of these rumors. This time, though, it looks like Apple really does have a TV in the works, whether CultofMac’s source is to be believed or not. According to Steve Jobs’s biography by Walter Isaacson, Jobs was working on the TV during his last days at Apple, and told Isaacson that during that time he finally “cracked it.” Since then, increasingly reliable rumors have suggested that Apple really is working on their own TV.

Unfortunately, CultofMac’s source gives little real information about the TV other than its general look and the three features already mentioned. There is no information on when Apple might release such a TV, how much it might cost, or what size options there will be. What is fairly certain is that they will not actually call the device an “iTV,” owing to the fact that two separate entertainment companies – one British, one American – currently operate under the name ITV.

Of course, this rumor could wind up like all the other iTV rumors and never actually pan out. Even CultofMac acknowledges that this could be the case, as their source does not have a perfect record when it comes to leaks of this kind, “due to the fact that our source tends to see products in the prototype or early development stage.”

That said, it’s a fair bet that Apple does want to break into the HDTV market. There are questions as to whether an Apple-branded TV could revolutionize the TV market the way the iPhone and iPad revolutionized their respective markets. After all, neither the smartphone nor the tablet had broad consumer appeal before Apple got into those markets, while the Tv market is aimed primarily at consumers. That said, there is no doubt that such a TV would be quite popular.

What do you think? Would you buy an Apple HDTV that looked like the one above? Could Apple do to TVs what they did to smartphones, or is that market too well-established already? Would you use a TV for FaceTime calls? Let us know in the comments.

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