Foxconn, the China-based manufacturing partner of Apple, is in the
"trial production stage" of producing the Cupertino company's
long-awaited television set, according to China Business News.
No further details were released. It goes without saying: take this with a pinch of salt.
What makes this interesting is that it comes only a fortnight after Foxconn Chief Executive Terry Gou said the company was "making preparations" for the forthcoming television, which was followed by a stern denial a few days later claiming that any reports were "inaccurate".
What may sound like a backtrack is at very least a case of "he said, she said."
Local publication China Daily, who reported the original claims, said the product would be dubbed 'iTV', which has already had the Telegraph suggesting the U.K. broadcaster with the same name could sue over the trademark, despite ITV's chief executive refuting such claims.
The report said the television set would include feature an aluminium
body, with voice-activated assistant Siri and FaceTime video calling.
One J.P. Morgan analyst said the Cupertino-based technology giant
would not release a television set until 2014. Mark Moskowitz said Apple
would need a "major pull factor." He also said his firm's research "does not indicated any looming TV-related product launch."
However, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was confident to claim the television set would be announced this year.
Munster said Apple could unveil the slightly differently named "iHub" television set as soon as December, with the product going on sale in early 2013. He estimates Apple could take more than 10 percent of the market within 1-3 years after the launch.
December is an odd time to launch a product, particularly if the launch was set for the following month in January or February.
Looking at the other major product launches, the early months of the year, usually around March-April is generally when we get our hands on the latest
iPad
tablet set for a summer launch. During the middle-months of the year, typically around June-July, we are presented with the next
iPhone, which is due in time for the Christmas holiday season.
A
launch in January 2013 would the Christmas holiday sales patch --
crucial for end-of-year sales -- but also chips into "depressing"
January where most people can barely pinch the pennies together. For a
television set to cost in the region of $1,500-$2,000, according to
Munster, it will likely prove to be an impossible time for a product
launch.
We contacted Apple for comment, and we will update this story when we have more information.
- Lowered latencies: The single-chip NVIDIA architecture
provides an inherent performance advantage compared to dual-chip
implementations of the same functionality. In addition to overall
latency reductions, the NVIDIA nForce MCP significantly boosts device
throughput. An extremely fast dedicated HyperTransport link lets the
NVIDIA MCPs communicate with the CPU at up to 8.0GBps, which ensures
ample system bandwidth. This is especially beneficial when multiple
devices are active, or for supporting high-bandwidth devices.
- Design efficiency: The NVIDIA single-chip architecture
uses 0.15 micron process technology compared with the 0.22 micron
process used by existing solutions on the market today. This solution
offers unmatched integration of features and functionality and results
in: Simplified board layouts and more room for on-board features and
add-on chipsets. Lower power consumption and dissipated heat. Simplified
inventory management and cost efficiencies.
- Advanced technology features: Built-in NVIDIA RAID technology delivers optimized disk performance through disk striping and fault tolerance through disk mirroring. Select versions of the NVIDIA nForce MCPs incorporate a native Gigabit Ethernet port TCP/IP acceleration. NVIDIA delivers the highest performance networking solution for desktops and workstations. In addition, NVIDIA nForce solutions offer support for the latest graphics processors.