Apple manufacturer Foxconn looks past iPhone, anticipates iTV orders

By Christian Zibreg on May 7, 2013

Hon Hai Precision Industry – better known in the Western world as Foxconn – is the world’s top manufacturer of consumer electronics. And with Apple products – the iPhone in particular – accounting for at least 40 percent of its revenue, the contract manufacturer’s fortunes are tied to Apple’s.

Needles to say, the company’s leadership never complained about relying on Apple so much as long as sales were growing substantially. But with Apple’s growth cooling off amid a broader sales lull affecting pricey high-end smartphones like the iPhone, Foxconn is now looking to lessen its exposure on the Apple smartphone and is apparently gearing up for a mass-scale production of an Apple-branded television set, the rumored iTV… Read More

 

HBO Go, now with AirPlay multitasking and Games of Thrones interactive enhancements

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 8, 2013

HBO’s free iOS streaming software is a nice companion app provided you’re already subscribed to the service.

And if you believe the continuing ramblings, the Time Warner-owned premium cable network is considering offering additional subscription options in the not-so-distant future, potentially allowing cable-cutters to subscribe to HBO for online-only access.

In the meantime, HBO has updated its Go app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch with two new useful features. The first will appeal to the fans of HBO’s Game of Thrones series as they can now enjoy enhancements related to the show’s interactive experience. The other improvement includes AirPlay multitasking capability. What’s that, you ask? Read More

 

Analyst sees Apple television with ‘iRing’ motion controller and ‘mini iTV’ secondary screen

By Christian Zibreg on Apr 3, 2013

A rumored standalone television set from Apple dubbed iTV continues to be the subject of tremendous speculation, with one analyst recently citing supply chain checks allegedly pointing to a 4K Ultra HD set being built by Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn and slated for an early-2014 launch.

Another analyst now joins the conversation with some pretty wild predictions, also based on – you guessed right – checks with Apple’s suppliers. Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets told one publication Wednesday that after meeting with Apple’s Asian suppliers he now sees some pretty wild stuff in the pipeline.

Specifically, Cupertino will be launching an Apple-branded television set later this year, White says, along with a motion controller of sorts called iRing and a secondary display… Read More

 

Rumor: iTV has Foxconn-made display, ships in early-2014

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 28, 2013

Earlier in the week, the somewhat reliable DigiTimes reported that Apple’s rumored standalone TV set could ship later this year with a 4K Ultra HD screen. Another report out from Asia has it that Apple’s contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, will supply high-resolution panels for the product.

Sources estimate Apple won’t start shipping its television set until next year at the earliest… Read More

 

Supply chain chatter claims Apple is building 4K ‘Ultra HD’ TV set

By Cody Lee on Mar 26, 2013

It’s been a while since we’ve heard any new information regarding Apple’s rumored TV project. It seems ‘iTV’ speculation has been replaced by talk of Apple’s secret plans for the smartwatch space, and its expected entry into the budget handset market.

But that changed this evening with a new report out of China, claiming that Apple has been in discussions with Foxconn over the production schedule of a TV set. And the 4K ‘Ultra HD’ television will finally land in either late 2013, or early next year… Read More

 

Cable-free access to HBO Go app is ostensibly under consideration

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 22, 2013

Not sure about you, but cable operators sure bother the hell out of me by not letting me watch shows on iDevices unless I subscribe to their terrestrial television offering. Why do these companies presume everyone owns a TV? While the App Store hosts a bunch of apps from the likes of ABC, HBO or CBS, you must be a paying TV subscriber to stream shows (you already paid for) to your devices.

I like Time Warner-owned HBO’s shows and am subscribed to them through my cable TV provider and now we’re hearing that the company is considering reversing its stance and reportedly offer online subscriptions to cable-cutters in the not-so-distant future… Read More

 

Potentially disruptive live-streaming app from ABC in the works

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 19, 2013

After CBS last week unveiled its free iOS app that gives you access to the network’s popular shows 24 hours or more after they air, we learn now that ABC is working on its own app for tablets and smartphones, one potentially making ABC the first of the American broadcasters to provide a live Internet stream of national and local programming, potentially very disruptive given the incumbent’s existing business models. Of course, you won’t get to stream premium ABC programming free of charge as a paid cable or satellite subscription will be required to use the app.

Nevertheless, the ability to watch such ABC shows as ‘Good Morning America’ and ‘Nashville’ on your iPhone or iPad as they broadcast could finally blur the artificial line between mobile devices and the traditional venues through which content providers distribute their linear programming… Read More

 

CBS releases free iOS streaming app

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 14, 2013

Eager to watch episodes of CSI or Survivor on your iPhone, iPod or iPad? Now you can, as CBC this morning released a major new streaming software which gives Apple’s iOS devices free access to the network’s popular shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Survivor, Catch NCIS, How I Met Your Mother, The Young and the Restless and Elementary. Some of the shows will stream via the app 24 hours after they air, but most of the shows are being offered eight days following their initial broadcast… Read More

 

Here’s an iTV concept Jony Ive would approve of

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 13, 2013

Resident Apple mockup artist Martin Hajek is on a roll lately. Just a day following his publication of the traditional iWatch concept which adorns the April 2013 cover of the MacUser magazine, he’s back at it with a new Apple television mockup that has Jony Ive written all over it. The beautiful renderings are based on the familiar iMac look and sport the sinister black design, with details reminiscent of the iPhone 5. Go past the fold for the full awesomeness… Read More

 

Vevo wants to become the next MTV, launches always-on broadcast channel

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 12, 2013

Today at SXSW, Vevo announced a 24/7 channel coming to your traditional television via the Roku set-top box and the Xbox gaming console, but also to the Vevo web site and mobile platforms like Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, Microsoft’s Windows Phone. As you know, Vevo streams official music videos licensed from record labels, both through its web site and via a dedicated YouTube channel, where most of its 52 million monthly uniques come from.

Vevo’s mobile apps will be updated with an around-the-clock curated experience of original programming, including live concerts and television shows. The experience is being described as multicast, meaning everyone gets to watch the same programming at the exact same time, regardless of the platform they’re accessing it from. Vevo TV will even feature a 24-hour schedule of static programming blocks, just like your regular dumb-ified tube… Read More

 

Gullible analyst says no iTV this year because Apple finds 4K display too costly

By Christian Zibreg on Mar 12, 2013

An analyst with a terrible track record wrote in a note to clients issued Tuesday that Apple won’t release a standalone HD TV set in 2013 after all. As much as Apple wanted to, the report has it, the company has allegedly found ultra high-resolution 4K panels to be prohibitively expensive.

You should take this particular analyst’s observations with a healthy dose of skepticism: the same guy called for an Apple-branded HD TV announcement at last year’s WWDC, later mulling full iTV production for August 2012. He repeatedly said iTV was “imminent” (calling it the iPanel), having also missed with an Apple TV related media event (and a bunch of other things that never came to be)… Read More

 

What if iWatch isn’t actually an Apple smart watch, but an aptly named TV?

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 18, 2013

As we entered 2013, the rumor mill has been increasingly churning out speculative reports regarding Apple’s rumored TV set and smart watch projects, almost on a daily basis. Even Bloomberg joined the frenzy with claims that Apple has as many as a hundred product designers working on a wearable smart watch-like computer that “may perform some of the tasks now handled by the iPhone and iPad.” But here’s the kicker: what if this group is instead working on a television set – fittingly referred to as an iWatch? Read More

 

iTV could use LG Display’s OLED panels

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 18, 2013

LG Display, a major Apple supplier that makes high-resolution screens for the iPad mini, fourth-generation iPad, 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and redesigned iMacs, plans to allocate more than 706 billion won, or approximately $656.7 million, toward building organic light emitting diode (OLED) screens for high-definition television sets by the end of June 2014, according to The Wall Street Journal. The investment will allow LG Display to make some 26,000 sheets per month for customers seeking 55-inch or larger television screens.

It was recently revealed that Apple hired LG Display’s OLED expert Dr. Jueng Jil Lee. Another clue: Apple already holds several patents involving flexible OLEDs, OLED based BLUs for LCDs, OLED control schemes and others… Read More

 

Apple seeking someone to help deliver next-gen Apple TV features

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 15, 2013

An interesting new Apple job listing has been spotted, indicating that Apple has “high-priority” next-generation Apple TV features in development. That’s an interesting choice of words considering Apple continuously refers to its $99 set-top box as a hobby business. And with recent talk of Apple about to update the Apple TV platform this fall with a software development kit for third-party apps and games, all of the pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall nicely in place… Read More

 

Apple (again) mentioned in a rumored Loewe takeover bid

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 13, 2013

In a déjà vu moment, Reuters this morning reported that shares of the German luxury TV maker Loewe surged 33 percent on renewed talk of a possible acquisition by Apple. The news gathering organization quotes a trader who claims Apple supposedly wants to bid 4 euros a share for Loewe, or approximately $5,28 a share, a 40 percent premium above the company’s closing price on Tuesday.

Loewe’s current market cap sits at 53 million euros, or about $71 million. With its $137 billion cash mountain, Apple could buy Loewe outright without blinking. Nearly one-third of Loewe, or 28 percent, is owned by Sharp, an Apple supplier that was involved in the Apple television rumor last summer… Read More

 

Analyst sees Apple TV media event in March (update: nope)

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 13, 2013

Apple could be holding an Apple TV-related media event next month, according to Jeffries analyst Peter Misek. Despite the mounting rumors that Apple is working on a standalone television set, channel checks led the analyst to believe that the assumed event will serve as a launchpad for a software development kit allowing programmers to write third-party applications for Apple’s $99 set-top box, something a lot of people have been clamoring for… Read More

 

Intel VP confirms it’s working on new set-top box and TV service

By Cody Lee on Feb 12, 2013

If Apple is really planning on revolutionizing the TV business, it may want to hurry up and do so before Intel beats it to the punch. Confirming rumors from earlier this year, the company’s Media VP Erik Huggers said today that it’s working on a set-top box.

But that’s not all. In addition to the new hardware, Huggers says that Intel is also working with ‘the entire industry’ to bring a new Internet TV service—an all-in-one solution that will incorporate live TV, catch-up TV and on-demand TV—to the market… Read More

 

Californian tech industry insiders claim summer iTV launch is ‘a certainty’

By Christian Zibreg on Feb 11, 2013

Watchers and analysts alike are increasingly expecting that Apple will reveal its cards at its upcoming developers conference, WWDC, this summer. First, a set of dubious images made rounds this morning, allegedly depicting the iPhone 5S on an assembly line and hinting at a likely summer launch.

However, eagle-eyed bloggers were quick to point out a few glaring inconsistencies, eventually debunking these spy shots as depicting an iPhone knock-off. Then an analyst said a cheaper iPhone model was due in June and now another report claims an Apple-branded television set is coming this summer… Read More

 

Munster (again) sees Apple shipping iTV and new remote in 2013

By Christian Zibreg on Jan 22, 2013

You gotta give it to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, arguably for years the most vocal proponent of a full-fledged Apple television set. Speaking to Bloomberg today, Munster re-iterated his belief Apple is working on releasing a standalone television set in 2013. His thinking is apparently based in checks with Apple’s suppliers and he also sees the Cupertino firm shipping an intelligent remote that, in his mind, should be an important part of the rumored iTV… Read More

 

Surprise, Intel faces roadblocks in securing content for its Apple TV contender

By Christian Zibreg on Jan 2, 2013

Yesterday, news broke that chip giant Intel, frustrated with “everyone doing a half-assed Google TV”, is prepping its own set-top box and  cable service for an introduction at the CES show, which runs January 8-11 (iDB will be there!). The report noted Intel “has a plan to overcome licensing hurdles” by rolling out the TV service gradually, on a city-by-city basis.

Today, The Wall Street Journal throws its proverbial credibility behind the rumor, but also explains that Intel, just like Apple, has found that Hollywood is proving to be a much tougher nut to crack… Read More

 
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