Remember the much rumoured Apple take on the HDTVs, the one dubbed as "iTV"? The Wall Street Journal reports the project is under ice, since the company failed to differentiate the product from the competition.
According to the WSJ, Apple dabbled with a lot of TV ideas, including 4K/UHD resolution panels, transparent laser-powered displays and even sensor-equipped face-tracking cameras for use in FaceTime calls. However, such ideas were deemed not "compelling enough" for the company, leading to the shelving of the product in question.
Instead, Apple TV efforts are reportedly concentrated on, well, Apple TV. As in the humble set top box. The WSJ corroborates on earlier reports regarding an Apple TV update, one complete with a new internet TV service, updated software (including an App Store and Siri control) and a slimmer hardware design.
However, despite the WSJ story, one industry voice insists Apple will make an actual TV-- mega-shareholder Carl Icahn. In an open letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Icahn says the iPhone maker will "push into the TV market" by 2016 before taking on self-driving automobiles by 2020.
Either way, it is perhaps understandable that Apple would drop attempts at producing TVs. As former Japanese giants such as Sony, Panasonic and Sharp can tell, the TV business remains a cutthroat, low-margin game. But what if Apple manages to do to TV what it did to the smartphone?