A JP Morgan analyst has advised investors not to expect Apple to launch a television any time this year, though a feature-filled set-top box may be more likely.
Despite many excited consumers already saying they plan to buy an Apple television set, the product may not exist until 2014. AppleInsider obtained a note to investors from Mark Moskowitz, an analyst with JP Morgan, wherein he advises that Apple will not launch a television set this year and that it may be two years before this product sees the light of day.
Citing current economic conditions as a reason behind this lengthy timeframe, Moskowitz wrote that JP Morgan’s research “does not indicate any looming TV-related product launch,” AppleInsider reports.
A further excerpt from the note on the website states: “We are not sure that the Apple premium could prevail in the TV market, unless there is a radical change of the user interface, integration of the TV programming and data content, and use of gesture or voice control.”
A gradual approach to the TV market
Though consumers may expect Apple’s imminent launch of ‘the iPhone of entertainment systems’ – that is, a game-changing product that evokes high demand and revolutionises the industry – it might just be the company plans to take a more gradual approach to breaking into this market, and a feature-rich set-top box may arrive first.
Many analysts are expecting an Apple television to launch this year, but Moskowitz is not the first to predict otherwise. Asian research group CLSA set the release at 2013, Business Insider reported earlier this year.
Whatever the analysts say, the rumour mill around Apple’s highly anticipated television will keep spinning. Upgrades to the current Apple TV device may be on the cards, to incorporate gesture commands, DVR functions and gaming capabilities. Or, if a full television set is actually in the works, a large, flat-screen Retina display could be making its way to living rooms soon.
