The latest on the Apple TV design, which may end up in consumer’s living rooms as soon as this year: The cloud-based TV service will reportedly feature Siri — Apple’s virtual personal assistant that debuted on the iPhone 4S — and will also run on a new quad-core A6 processor, which is also believed to be featured in the company’s next-generation iPad.
This comes just days after news circulated that the company contacted at least one major Asian supplier about purchasing television display components, according to Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster. He told investors 1/31 that he had recently spoken to a “major TV component supplier” about Apple’s rumored plans to release a connected HDTV. Sources within the supplier reportedly told him that Apple had contacted “regarding various capabilities of their television display components.”
Meanwhile, the Apple iTV is also expected to come in three different screen sizes which would range from 32 inches to 55 inches. Apple’s major feature Siri would allow users to toss away remotes, enabling voice to turn televisions on and off or change channels. Viewers could ask Apple TV what the weather is like and have Siri automatically open a weather widget or switch to the Weather Channel. Finding content would be more robust.
One could ask Siri for an episode of the David Letterman Show. And Siri could respond, asking if the choice is rather to watch any particular episode of the show. Siri would automatically pick up the users’ viewing habits and remind them of programming ahead of time.
Meanwhile, according to industry analysts, Apple plans its launch in the second half of 2012 or early 2013.
