Rumor: negotiations stall and Apple TV shouldn’t hit the market anytime soon

There is a rumor that comes and goes, ever since: Apple TV. THE Bloomberg he said today that Apple engineers have been working on it since 2005, but that the task of designing, designing the product was easy compared to the difficulty that the company is facing in negotiations with content providers.

Apple is competing with Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com to make TVs the hub of people’s lives, in an industry that is expected to reach $ 200 billion worldwide by 2017. Whoever wins the first deal with media companies or cable providers, who have little incentive to hand over their valuable revenues, will win. The result: Apple will not launch a TV this year, as analysts had predicted, said a person familiar with the company’s plans.

Television showing Batman movie

According to the vehicle, in the last negotiations, control over the software that determines the screen interface was discussed. Another point of contention would be regarding the distribution of set-top box, as it can be sold directly to consumers or distributed by the content companies themselves.

However, the negotiations would be a little more advanced with Time Warner Cable Inc. They speculate that the Cupertino firm may be looking to Time Warner to be its first partner, just as AT&T was at the launch of the iPhone. Thus, the product would be launched initially only in the United States. If the strategy is a success, it would be easier for Apple to “replicate” it in other countries, with a case ready.

“Unlike other distributors, we are not religious in controlling the user interface,” said Robert Marcus, chief operating officer at Time Warner, in a telephone interview. Even though he did not want to comment on Apple specifically, the statement already shows a certain inclination to accept some key points of a deal with Apple.

One thing, for me, is not clear in these recent rumors involving a new Apple TV. After all, it will be a set-top box or a real television? Taking into account Apple’s track record of 100% user experience, I would say that we are talking about a television. However, an inexpensive black box, which can easily be connected to existing TVs, is extremely practical, with a much larger range than a 50-inch TV, for example.

Who knows, Apple may not be preparing even two products, in a kind of new family (Apple TV and “Apple HDTV”). While both would share features like an interface, recording content in the cloud (DVR), control via iGadgets, same content, among other things, “Apple HDTV” (or “iTV” – both fictitious names) would bring more features like FaceTime, gesture control, integration with Siri, etc.

But the truth is that, while the clash over content is taking place, the design of a new Apple TV / ”iTV” will be kept in Tim Cook’s drawer.

[via MacRumors]