Will Apple answer Google’s Chromecast with a new and improved update to its Apple TV set top box in 2013, or will it make the leap all the way to Apple television sets? After seven years of refining and shrinking its Apple TV device for streaming and downloading digital video and audio content to HD television sets, Apple now has a smaller and cheaper mainstream competitor in Chromecast. But will Apple respond by going smaller and cheaper itself, or are those long lingering rumors of Apple television sets about to finally happen in 2013?
Apple is indeed headed in the direction of offering its own television sets, as confirmed by the late Steve Jobs himself who confirmed the product in his posthumous autobiography while omitting the key details as to how it’ll work. Because Apple itself doesn’t usually comment on the nature or progress of future products, those Apple televisions could be just around the corner or they could still be years away. In the mean time Apple is still hawking its Apple TV box for $99 even as Google is pushing Chromecast for $35. If television sets aren’t on the 2013 calendar, it’s conceivable Apple could instead respond this fall with a new Apple TV that’s smaller and sells for something closer to $49.
Even if Apple moves into television sets this fall, it’ll still need to keep the Apple TV box around for those who are happy with the third party television they already have. That means it has to decide how to respond to Google’s ultra cheap Chromecast one way or the other.
Apple is indeed headed in the direction of offering its own television sets, as confirmed by the late Steve Jobs himself who confirmed the product in his posthumous autobiography while omitting the key details as to how it’ll work. Because Apple itself doesn’t usually comment on the nature or progress of future products, those Apple televisions could be just around the corner or they could still be years away. In the mean time Apple is still hawking its Apple TV box for $99 even as Google is pushing Chromecast for $35. If television sets aren’t on the 2013 calendar, it’s conceivable Apple could instead respond this fall with a new Apple TV that’s smaller and sells for something closer to $49.
Even if Apple moves into television sets this fall, it’ll still need to keep the Apple TV box around for those who are happy with the third party television they already have. That means it has to decide how to respond to Google’s ultra cheap Chromecast one way or the other.