Apple rumors never die, and speculation about a potential Apple HDTV have been making the rounds for well over a year.
Originally, rumors pegged 2011 as the launch year for Apple HDTV, but obviously that never happened.
Now a new report has surfaced claiming Foxconn is ready to start production of the Cupertino’s long-awaited HDTV.
The source of the rumor? None other than Foxconn CEO Terry Gou. Apparently, Gou was at a news conference held recently in Shanghai, China where he talked about Foxconn plans for the future.
During the conference, Gou let slip that Foxconn is preparing its facility for producing Apple’s HDTV. However, Gou emphasized that “development [and] manufacturing have yet to begin.”
Considering how very seriously Cupertino takes security when it comes to new products, Gou could be looking at some repercussions for leaking any details on the new TV. So far, rumors about Apple HDTV have claimed the set would support Siri, feature an integrated camera for FaceTime, and offer access to the App store.
Of course, Apple has yet to confirm its intention to design a full-fledged HDTV. However, the Steve Jobs biography written by Walter Isaacson did state that the Apple co-founder felt he had “cracked” the code for developing a user-friendly television.
Indeed, Jobs told his biographer: “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”
With a high-level executive from Foxconn now claiming the TV is more fact than fiction, I expect rumors will only intensify. We still have no clear indication of when the TV will hit Apple store shelves, but with the Gou statement that development or manufacturing hasn’t yet begun, the rumored 2014 launch window could well be true. It should also be noted that Foxconn recently decided to buy a big chunk of Sharp’s LCD TV factory, with analysts predicting Apple could very well grab at least 5% of the HDTV market.
