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…
By the way, you should know that the well-connected Jim Dalrymple of The Loop shot down the March event analyst prediction with a proverbial “nope”.
Misek wrote in a note to clients, obtained by MacRumors:
Channel checks indicate Apple has a product event in March that is Apple-TV related (possibly an iTV SDK introduction). We think a Sep/Oct iTV launch is being targeted.
Coincidentally or not, the ‘Apple TV3,2’ string discovered in iOS 6.1 seem to point to a tweaked Apple TV being on its way.
Apple commented by saying that “we sometimes make component changes which require an updated model number for regulatory approval”.
The component changes we made don’t affect product features and Apple TV customers will continue to have the same great user experience.
In that regard, the next Apple TV could easily sport a faster processor and graphics in order to run full-screen 1080p apps and games.
As fort the iTV, Misek anticipates that Apple will offer the product in screen sizes ranging betweet 42 and 55 inches, with prices starting around $1,500.
Misek also wrote in his note today that supply chain sources told him that iPhone 5 sales are decelerating as Apple has apparently cut its build orders to thirty million iPhones, down from forty million units.
Misek thinks that’s a sign of a seasonal drop off in iPhone demand as suppliers are “prepping for iPhone 5S builds to start in March.”