Apple TV

Is Apple vulnerable in 2012? You bet

The battle is on to unseat Apple where Steve Jobs made it shine--and mighty Apple is already looking at risk.

After Steve Jobs was fired in 1985, it took Microsoft 10 years to catch up--and exceed--the technical and user interface innovations of the Mac OS that Jobs helped create. Now, Jobs is gone and Apple is once again in a position of clear market leadership with competitors gunning to match its products.

Apple's rivals aren't taking a decade, however. Far from it. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, along with partners such as Intel, Samsung, HP, and Lenovo are all … Read more

New and upcoming Apple AirPlay products

At some point you've probably heard about AirPlay, a wireless streaming feature found on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and your Mac.

It was first announced in 2010, but with the arrival of iOS 4.3 (and now iOS 5), its features have been enhanced, and more third-party consumer electronics manufacturers are finally adding it to their products, though prices remain elevated. … Read more

Apple TV to come in 3 sizes, top out at 55 inches, report says

The rumor mill is heating up around Apple's television plans, and now a report claims to have information on the device's screen sizes.

Citing anonymous sources in Japan at a "major" company working on the set's production, Australian technology site Smarthouse reported Sunday that Apple television buyers will be able to choose from three screen sizes, ranging from 32 inches to 55 inches. In addition, the sources say that the television will ship with the same Apple A6 processor expected to come in the iPad 3.

On the software side, Smarthouse's sources say that … Read more

Apple TV sets will be mighty pricey, analyst says

Rumors have been swirling that Apple is thinking about launching a television next year, and Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster claims to have some insight into what the iPhone maker has planned.

Speaking yesterday at Business Insider's Ignition: Future of Media conference, Munster said, according to the blog, that Apple thinks customers want an all-in-one television that isn't tied down to external boxes.

But in order to deliver that, Munster says, Apple will charge a steep premium for its television. According to Business Insider, Munster said that if a given television costs $800, Apple's alternative will set … Read more

Next-gen Apple TV gets J33 codename

The next generation of Apple TV appears to be moving closer to reality.

Hints of the much-rumored product appeared today in a new beta of iOS 5.1 given to developers. As 9to5Mac notes, as products move closer to release, Apple gives them a codename, such as N94 for the latest iPhone. In this case, the blog found notes in the string code that refer to the next version of Apple TV as J33.

Apple's current Apple TV model is a bit long in the tooth when it comes to processing power. The small set-top box sports an A4 … Read more

Amazon gives Apple TV $10 price cut, '2010' model label

New pricing and a title change on Amazon.com's listing of the Apple TV hint that a new model could be just around the corner.

The set-top box, which Apple last updated with new hardware in September of last year, is currently listed for $89.99, a 9 percent discount on the unit's retail price.

But as 9to5mac notes, the more interesting tidbit is that it's now listed as the "(2010)" version of the product. By comparison, Amazon lists the most up-to-date version of other Apple products, such as the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, … Read more

Sony working on a 'different kind of TV set'

Apple isn't the only company thinking seriously about reinventing the television, Sony CEO Howard Stringer has revealed.

According to the Sony chief executive, who spoke yesterday with The Wall Street Journal, his company has a "tremendous amount of research and development going into a different kind of TV set." Stringer declined to provide details on what his company's television might offer.

For Stringer and Sony, the stakes are high in the television business. Over the last several quarters, his company's television operation has continued to drag down earnings, due to Sony losing money on every … Read more

iTunes creator working on Apple TV, report says

Apple vice president of consumer applications, Jeff Robbin, is heading up a team at the company that's working on launching a television, according to a new report.

Citing multiple sources, Bloomberg says Robbin's team has a prototype in the works right now, but there is still a possibility that Apple won't even release a television.

Robbin's involvement in the Apple television is notable. After joining Apple more than a decade ago to head up the company's iTunes product, Robbin also helped create the iPod, making him a key player in the firm's executive lineup.… Read more

Apple TV: Did Steve Jobs crack the code?

Word that Steve Jobs cracked the code to creating a simple television before he died set off a new round of speculation that an Apple TV set was coming sooner than later.

In Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs, the Apple co-founder was quoted talking about TV. Jobs said:

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.

Piper Jaffray Gene Munster has been arguing for … Read more

Via files patent suit against Apple, iPhone

Via Technologies has sued Apple for patent infringement in regard to Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Apple TV products and associated software, Via said today in a statement.

The patents involved cover microprocessor functionality in the above mentioned products, Via said, singling out U.S. Patent No. 6253312, "method and apparatus for double operand load," and U.S. Patents Nos. 6253311 and 6754810, "instruction set for bi-directional conversion and transfer of integer and floating point data."

Taiwan-based Via bills itself as "a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms." Today's patent … Read more