Apple’s Rumored iTV on Hold Again :

According to sources in the TV supply chain, it appears that Apple’s long-rumored TV plans, which were far from concrete anyway, have been put on hold again, possibly to be replaced by a rollout of wearable devices. Although many financial and industry analysts have been speculating about Apple’s entrance into the TV business via an actual TV (instead of the Apple TV “hobby” set-top-box) for years, during the last year the rumor-mill has shifted into high gear about a 2014 introduction. Indeed, our own information from TV supply chain sources pointed to the fact that Apple appeared to be lining up resources for a product introduction in the second half of 2014, likely with 2-3 large screen sizes and 4K resolution.


For Apple to have a successful television product for the living room, it needs to achieve three goals:

1. Sell enough units to generate sufficient content purchasing points, especially among households who do not yet own Apple TV set-top boxes.
2. Offer a unique point of differentiation to capture market share from leading TV manufacturers such as Samsung and Vizio, while at the same time being able to sell the products for a high enough price to deliver typically high Apple margins.
3. Create follow-on replacement purchases to keep hardware sales from flat-lining once household penetration peaks.

 For the current smart TV brands, this will be a big relief. While Apple may not have sold very many units, it would have had significant impact on the upper-tier product ranges from most of the top brands, which is the primary source of what meager profits they can earn in the TV category.