Apple suppliers gearing up for 'iTV'

Suppliers of components for Apple Inc. will start 2012 on a busy note, preparing materials for the tech giant's new iTV sets, a tech site reported this week.

 

Taiwan's DigiTimes said the preparations in the first quarter seek to meet Apple's schedule to launch the new products in the second or third quarter of 2012.

 

Citing its sources, DigiTimes said the supposed iTV will be a full TV set and not a set-top box similar to the existing Apple TV.

 

But DigiTimes also cited other sources who said Apple may continue to launch its next-generation set-top box Apple TVs in 2012.

 

It noted Apple had lowered the price of its current version of Apple TV listed on Amazon by 9 percent recently.

 

DigiTimes cited media reports in Korea showing Samsung Electronics started producing chips for the iTVs in November 2011, while Sharp will produce the displays.

 

"The displays of the new iTV sets will focus on 32- and 37-inch sizes initially, noted sources in the supply chain," it said.

 

A separate article on The Next Web noted speculation surrounding a new Apple TV gained momentum following the death of co-founder Steve Jobs last October.

 

In a biography by Walter Isaacson, a statement from Jobs hinted at an Apple Television where Jobs said he had “finally cracked it.”

 

The Next Web said it is believed Apple’s Siri technology could be fully integrated into a new TV set, which “is a guaranteed product for Apple” according to a New York Times article.

 

"The television product has reportedly been being worked on at Apple for more than a year and it has been suggested that some executives were talking about the idea as far back as 2007," it said. — TJD, GMA News