14 DAY TRIAL // Foxconn Chief Executive Officer, Terry Gou, has been quoted as saying at a news conference in Shanghai that his factories are preparing to assemble the long-rumored Apple iTV [Update: see below].
Apple has been selling three generations of set-top boxes branded as “Apple TV” for the past few years, but major players in the tech industry have been sitting on the edge of their seats for the company’s rumored HD TV product.
Rumors have Apple launching a new television product in the next year or so, and most pundits prognosticate that it will have Siri remote control capabilities. According to one recent report, the device will boast have FaceTime integration.
The source in question asked to remain anonymous, but told Cult of Mac that “the Apple HDTV looks like Apple’s current lineup of LED-backlit Cinema Displays but is ‘much bigger.’ It has a built-in iSight camera for making free FaceTime video conference calls. And it has Siri, the iPhone 4S’s voice-activated virtual assistant.”
Interestingly, that’s the same thing coming out of Terry Gou's mouth at a news conference in Shanghai.
According to the China Daily, “Gou said Foxconn is making preparations for iTV, Apple Inc's rumored upcoming high-definition television, although development or manufacturing has yet to begin.”
Gou reportedly told the attending audience that Apple’s iTV features “an aluminum construction, Siri, and FaceTime video calling.”
According to the report, Foxconn's recent joint venture factory with Sharp is “one of the preparations made for the new device.”
Editor’s note There’s a good chance Gou’s words got misinterpreted, and that he didn’t even name any Apple products at all. Some things get lost in translation sometimes (especially when it comes to translating from Chinese to English), and Gou knows better than to leak Apple’s future plans. Then again, maybe he’s so confident Apple relies on Foxconn that he simply didn’t sweat it.
Update: Following widespread reports citing Terry Gou as saying that Foxconn was preparing to make Apple's rumored HDTV, the company has released a statement to deny such rumors.