Apple Working on HDTV with Siri Voice-Control and iCloud Integration

Perhaps the biggest revelation to come out of the recently released Steve Jobs bio by author Walter Isaacson is the possibility of an Apple branded HDTV. Jobs told Isaacson he “finally cracked it” when talking about plans to create an integrated TV that is “completely easy to use” and that “seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud”.

Today analysts are coming out of the woodwork claiming Apple is already working on the device and has been for quite some time. The New York Times published a report by Nick Bilton where he claims Apple is already prototyping the device and has been for over a year.

Bilton claims the proof comes from a source who claims to have seen Apple parts within their supply chain which appeared to belong to a TV rather than any known Apple product. Bilton then claims after a little “snooping around”, Apple employees confirmed his suspicions:

I immediately began snooping around, asking Apple employees and people close to the company if a full fledged Apple Television was in the works. Several people, all speaking on condition of anonymity for obvious reasons, told me that nothing was actively being built, but — and this was a big but — I was told repeatedly that Apple would eventually make a television. “Absolutely, it is a guaranteed product for Apple,” I was told by one individual. “Steve thinks the industry is totally broken.”

There has also been much talk of Siri integration (the new voice-controlled assistant on iPhone 4S) after Jobs commented in the book about an Apple branded TV with the “simplest user interface you could imagine”. Bilton writes about what he’s heard when it comes to Siri integration, and it sounds like Kinect has something to worry about.

It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest. Of course this experience goes beyond just playing TV shows or the local news. As the line between television programming and Web content continues to erode, a Siri-powered television would become more necessary.

You aren’t going to want to flip through file folders or baskets of content, checking off what you want. Telling Siri to “play videos of cute cats falling asleep” would return an endless YouTube stream of adorable napping fur balls.

Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster wrote on Monday that Apple is already prototyping the device that would come with a $2000 price tag and require a $50-$90 iTunes subscription for the majority of its content.

Although, Bilton’s report clearly notes Apple is waiting for larger displays to drop in price, which will see the device hitting consumers by 2013. Of course we’re not sure how much of this to take as fact, and it also has us thinking if it would it make sense for Siri integration to come to Mac OS X and their current Apple TV set-top box products first?

Does the prospect of an Apple-branded HDTV excite you? We know the potential price tag doesn’t, but it’s clear something needs to be done about the current UI on smart TVs, which could be improved is almost unusable. If anyone does, Apple has the potential to revolutionize the TV, just like they revolutionized the phone.

---

« New Social Media Site Wants to Destroy Facebook,... | « Jimmy Fallon Takes Jimmie Johnson’s...

---