We've heard a lot about Apple supposedly working on an "iTV," even if nothing has materialised yet. However the latest book on Apple, "Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs", insists the late Steve Jobs had no interest in TVs to begin with.
According to ex-Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane, an already sick Jobs answered in the negative when asked on the subject of TVs during his final 2010 "Top 100" exec retreat
"TV is a terrible business," Jobs reportedly remarked. "They don't turn over and the margins suck." He still wanted to take over the world's living rooms, but only once the Apple TV STB got enough content.
Mind, not everyone was convinced with the answer-- some "veterans in the room" believed Jobs was simply telling employees to concentrate on current tasks, not speculation on the next big Apple thing.
The statements in "Haunted Empire" come at odds with those in official iBiography. According to biographer Walter Isaacson Jobs "very much wanted to do for television sets what he had done for computers, music players, and phones: make them simple and elegant.”
"I've finally cracked it" Jobs told Isaacson in a reference to either the fabled iTV, Siri voice recognition or both.
Of course, Jobs was famous for telling one thing before doing the contrary-- remember his insisting Apple was not going to make a mobile phone just months before the iPhone launch? But in this case, it's impossible to tell to who is privy to the truth... at least until Apple decides to make its plans official.
Go Before He Died, Steve Jobs Told Top Executives Apple Would Not Be Making A TV (Business Insider)
