Company still having trouble getting content providers to sign deals

Jan 5, 2012 10:01 GMT  ·  By

As the entire tech industry is holding its breath for the potential unveiling of a full-fledged iTV this year, a former Apple staffer is adding fuel to the fire by saying he knows Jony Ive is testing a 50-incher in his studio at Apple.

Apple's SVP of Industrial Design, Jonathan Ive, is one of the most well-regarded people in his field.

He is known to have a huge basement-like studio all to himself for prototyping all kinds of stuff, and that stuff includes a 50-inch television product that Apple hopes to roll out soon. All this according to a source who worked at Apple, reports USA Today.

This person reportedly told the paper “Apple is […] looking at a 42-inch or larger LCD TV with built-in Wi-Fi. Inside the locked-down studio of Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, there's a slick 50-inch TV."

Further adding credence to the rumor is a statement from Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak who said "I do expect Apple to make an attempt, since I expect the living room to remain a center for family entertainment, and that touches on all areas of consumer products that Apple is already making."

Yet Apple has been having a hard time nailing the big content providers to power its iTV, say sources in the industry.

"I believe that Apple may be talking with the cable operators and the pay TV operators — DirecTV would be a great one," said IMS Research analyst Anna Hunt. "Why would DirecTV want to jeopardize their TV packages and give something à la carte to Apple and undermine what they offer customers?"

It won’t be cheap to secure these deals. This is why Gartner analyst Mike McGuire asks: "How much is Apple going to pay up for this? The content guys can't risk their existing licensing deals."