Recent rumblings of what many expect to be the Apple iTV have run rampant on the Net the past few weeks, and a recent report from USA Today claims a 50-inch model sits in Senior VP of Industrial Design Jonathan Ives’ design lab. We’ve heard of Apple working on 32- and 37-inch TV sets, which are rumored to feature Siri, AirPlay, and iCloud integration, but a 42-inch LCD model with built-in wi-fi is also said to be in the works: “Apple is said to be looking at a 42-inch or larger LCD TV with built-in Wi-Fi. Inside the locked-down studio of Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, there’s a slick 50-inch TV, according to the source who worked at Apple.”
While all sounds good on the Cupertino Clan’s end, there’s still some speculation of Apple struggling with bringing content onto its TV sets:
But a major roadblock for Apple along the way has been securing content needed to make an iTV succeed. The problems Apple is having securing content deals were described in an interview with a person who worked in the Apple TV group and verified by two television industry sources. All declined to be identified because of the confidential nature of the talks.
They say Apple has been unable to cut deals that would let it offer first-tier TV network programs for an à la carte iTunes TV service. That’s seen as a key element to launching a revolutionary iTV.
Maybe Apple will give us a progress report at its end-of-month media event, as it will not be in attendance at this year’s CES festivities, as usual.
