iTV

Consumers still want an Apple TV set, but only if the price is right

Rumors regarding Apple's TV set have really tapered off over the past few months. That likely has a lot to do with the ramp up in speculation surrounding the list of products Apple is expected to introduce at its fall media event — which the TV set isn't on.

But just because the Apple television chatter has subsided, doesn't mean that folks have forgotten about it. In fact, a new survey shows that some 50% of consumers are still very interested in an Apple-marketed TV set, as long as the price is right...

Why Foxconn must ensure survival of cash-strapped Sharp

Though the world's largest product assembler Foxconn is taking advantage of Sharp's financial woes, the company will want to offer a lifeline to the struggling Japanese giant, not just because it's one of the suppliers of mobile displays for iPhones and iPads, but also because Apple is seeking to reduce its dependency on Samsung, the world's largest maker of flat displays. That's the crux of today's report by Bloomberg, which also mentions the inevitable Apple television set rumor...

CBS CEO says the network is open to Apple TV deal

Yesterday, during the network's earnings call, CBS CEO Les Moonves responded to an analyst's question regarding his willingness to do business with Apple. As expected, his answer fell somewhere along the lines of, "Sure, as long as it's on our terms."

The question came in wake of the recent addition of the Hulu Plus service to Apple TV. Now that executives have hashed out that seemingly impossible deal, a lot of folks seem to have a "the sky's the limit" attitude towards the Apple TV platform...

Foxconn rethinking its Sharp investment amid the sunset of Japan’s TV biz

Japanese giants once used to rule the consumer electronics landscape but no more. Even the TV set making biz, once the pinnacle of the "made in Japan" industry, has been declining rapidly due to strong competitive pressure from South Korea, the home to Samsung, the world's largest TV maker.

Foxconn, an assembly company, in March announced intentions to purchase an eleven percent stake in Sharp, a manufacturer. Pundits and industry execs saw the move as laying the groundwork for a mass-scale production of a rumored Apple television set as Foxconn also agreed to buy a 46.48 percent stake in Sharp's cutting-edge (though underutilized) LCD plant in Sakai in western Japan, a big loss maker for the company.

Even though Foxconn has helped Sharp weather some of the storm ahead, the company needs more help. Banks, however, are unwilling to issue new loans and Foxconn just decided to renegotiate the terms of its purchase of Sharp's shares. The best bit: Foxconn has yet to produce the money for that deal...

Serious about television, Google launches Fiber TV service in Kansas City

Wow, this will come as a surprise to all but seasoned commentators who've been watching Google putting various pieces of the puzzle into place. They call it Fiber TV and it launched today alongside Google's fiber-optic Internet service in Kansas City. For starters, Google Fiber pumps data a hundred times faster than today’s average broadband.

With gigabit speeds you get a very advanced television which lets you record up to 500 hours of programming and up to eight shows at once, including Netflix access and all of YouTube. A combined gigabit Internet package with Fiber TV service will run you $120 a month. This is real TV, folks, with premium programming, a full channel lineup and optional paid content.

Opting for just gigabit Internet will set you back $70 a month with a one-year contract. Google won't throttle your speed or impose bandwidth caps and is sweetening the deal with a free 1TB Google Drive. Heck, you can even get gigabit Internet for free by paying for a one-time $300 construction fee. As an icing on the cake, Google is throwing a free Nexus 7 tablet with each Fiber TV subscription...

Smart TV alliances reportedly being formed over iTV rumors

Rumors that Apple is eyeing HD TV set making biz have persisted for a couple years now, but no solid iTV evidence surfaced thus far apart from Jobs' vague "I finally cracked it" quote from Walter Isaacson's bio book.

But even a mere idea of Apple setting its sights on the television market has baffled incumbents undertaking precautionary measures.

As indicated in a report out of Asia yesterday, some makers have started making smart TV alliances out of fear that Apple might take the television market by surprise just as it's done with the music market and, to a certain extent, with high-end smartphones...

iOS 6 beta 3 brings new AirPlay feature to Apple TV

On Monday, Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 6 to developers. The update includes bug fixes, added stability and a handful of new features.

Apparently, among those additions is a new AirPlay feature for the Apple TV. In iOS 6, users will have the ability to stream audio from their set-top boxes to external AirPlay-enabled speakers...

iOS 6 Beta lets you reorder Apple TV icons. Apps coming?

Earlier this morning we told you about a note by Apple pundit John Gruber who challenged BGR editor Jonathan Geller's false report that Apple would release a software development kit for the Apple TV at WWDC, effectively opening up the $99 set-top box to third-party apps.

The rumor never came to be and Gruber noted in his trademark style that “something big is going on with Apple TV in Cupertino” (but it’s still being cooked, if I may add). An interesting new video evidence released today by the Brazilian blog MacMagazine has strengthened the belief that third-party apps are likely coming to the Apple TV...

Gruber: “something big is going on with Apple TV in Cupertino”

Apple's $99 set-top box is of limited use unless you of course jailbreak it. This might change soon, at least to a certain extent, a well-informed pundit has suggested. Apple last refreshed the little hockey puck in March of this year, with new features such as full HD (1080p) video support, a revamped interface and a tweaked A5 chip with...

Brightcove outs SDK for dual-screen Apple TV apps as Google TV update looms

The epic battle for the living room is about to get a lot more interesting in a matter of days. Brightcove, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-headquartered online video platform provider, today released its App Cloud platform on an open-source basis. The SDK lets content owners create dual-screen apps that stream high-definition video to a television set through an Apple TV and AirPlay protocol.

While streaming, these apps can render a bunch of useful information on your iPhone or iPad, turning your iOS device into a glorified remote control of sorts. Meanwhile, Google is expected to issue a significant update to the Google TV platform at its upcoming developers conference tomorrow, said to give the Apple TV a run for its money...

Sharp to begin delivering cutting-edge iTV panels to Foxconn in Q3 2012

Back in May, a report quoted Foxconn CEO Terry Gou as saying his company was “making preparations” to assemble a full-blown television set for Apple. It proved bogus when Foxconn issued a statement claiming Gou “neither confirmed nor speculated about Foxconn’s involvement in the production of any product”, but such an ambiguously worded denial only added fuel to fire.

According to a new rumor by Chinese news site 21cbh.com (via AppleInsider), based on talks with a Sharp executive and other sources at the company, Sharp will begin delivering LCD television panels to Foxconn in the third quarter of this year, for the specific purpose of assembling Apple television sets...