Apple iTV Coming in 2012: Analyst

Apple Inc.'s assault on the living room likely means the introduction of its own iOS-powered television sets called iTV. Jefferies believes 2012 will see a focus on video.

Certainly there has been chatter for a new TV effectively integrating all set-top box functionality, console functionality and Apple TV functionality into the iTV.

We believe video will be a focus which will see an iTV possibly in the second half of 2012, said Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies. Besides incorporating Apple TV-type functionality, we believe a full browsing experience potentially featuring an iPad, iPod Touch, or iPhone as remote control or input device is quite possible.

Misek believes Apple could provide an extremely elegant solution, effectively allowing the user to move content between the multiple screens. The cloud-based services will likely drive a halo effect for Apple's existing products and the iTV.

He believes Apple has been developing an array of cloud services of which the tablet will be a critical part. No wonder Apple spent two years developing and fine-tuning the hardware and software before launching the first iPad. That head start is proving difficult for competitors to overcome.

The television domain as such is not new for Apple as it has a product called Apple TV -- a black pucklike iOS device which allows a user to stream content from its other iOS devices iPhone, iPad, iPod and Internet to the television. Apple TV is powered by the A4 chip. Apple TV hasn't seen success like its iOS kin.

Previously, Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, predicted that Apple will produce a television in late 2012 or early 2013.

We cited multiple sources, including component suppliers and internal Apple source, to back up our prediction. This will be an actual TV and not just a set-top box, and is most likely to run a version of iOS, Munster told in an interview with VentureBeat.