According to a new report, Apple is slated is launch not one but three HDTV models in 2012.
The news comes from AppleInsider. Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research has issued a research note to investors suggesting that Apple will be launching their own HDTVs in the first few months of 2012.
From AppleInsider:
Trip Chowdhry with Global Equities Research issued a note to investors on Sunday in which he shared his "converged view" on an anticipated Apple HDTV, with information based on details culled from a number of developer events he attended.
Chowdhry said the product that is most similar to Apple’s rumored HDTV is the Bose VideoWave, a 46-inch LCD HDTV with an integrated surround-sound speaker system. The VideoWave aims to simplify HDTVs by reducing clutter, and to improve picture and sound quality.
The HDTVs, according to the analyst, will come with an integrated surround-sound system and not more than 2 wires to ensure minimum clutter.
Rumors of an Apple HDTV have existed for many, many years. This year, we saw two separate reports from DailyTech and Smarthouse which talked about iOS-powered HDTV displays based on OLED technology.
If true, the TVs would basically be a high-definition display with an Apple TV built-in. Users will be able to download/stream TV shows and movies of their choice through the iTunes Store. According to speculations, users would even be allowed to buy channels as apps.
The HDTV market is all but saturated at this point. Being so very expensive, people who buy HDTVs stick to them for years before getting a new one unlike cell phones which people like to change more frequently.
So why should Apple enter the HDTV market? What will they get out of this, especially considering how the $99 Apple TV they currently sell seems to be doing the same job as the reported Apple HDTV?
The answer to that isn’t exactly clear to us but let’s just look back a few years: the time before 2007 when people felt that Apple had no business entering the smartphone market seeing as how it is already so “saturated”. Apple then announced the iPhone in mid-2007; fast forward to 2011 and you’ll find that Apple dominates the smartphone market and dethroned Nokia from the title of the world’s top smartphone vendor.
Same goes for the tablet market: “Who needs a tablet?” (2009) and “I want an iPad!” (2011)… Apple’s iPad also dominates the tablet market with over 8 out of 10 tablets sold in 2011 being iPads.
If any company can pull off entering a saturated market, it’s Apple.
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