Apple has not yet given any indication that it could launch a TV for its customers, but rumors regarding the launch of this product continued to appear. This time we don't have a rumor but a market study carried out by a US company that claims that one in four Americans would be willing to purchase a television produced by the Apple company. It seems that the price of 2000 - 3000$ for each TV was used in this study and Americans seem to be willing to pay it without reservation if the TV really had a silver apple drawn on the back or on the edge of the screen.
The TV set industry is in crisis mode. The manufacturers are scrambling to cut costs but still add features to roll out ever higher volumes of TV sets through struggling retailers. Even though design is an important feature for high end TV sets, this is a much smaller share of the market than it should be. It is my firm belief that there is a wide open market slot for a high-end design-led Apple TV set in this market. Apple should be able to market and successfully sell $2000-3000 TV sets with unprecedented margins.
For Romania the price is high, but for the USA a smart TV controlled by voice commands, with a beautiful interface and connected directly to iTunes seems to be successful. Of course, the price would be high enough to ensure Apple a substantial profit from sales, but if we look at this article then maybe the launch of the device doesn't seem so close. For now, it is not known what the plans of the Apple company are, but if it decides to launch a television, it has many customers who are waiting for the signal to withdraw the money from their accounts.
Of course, these TV sets will have the Apple TV built in and seamlessly integrated with other Apple products, but fundamentally I think Apple will sell on superior design and quality of the actual TV set. By using their Apple stores as the main outlets for these TV sets, they have a natural sales channel and can use the current market momentum to sell the TVs. The recent appointment of Dixon's John Browett as head of Apple's retail operations ensures that the more complex distribution chains for TV sets can be dealt with cost-efficiently. Selling TV sets might never be as important for Apple as selling mobile devices, but they should easily be able to create a $5-10BN business area out of it.
