14 DAY TRIAL // An attendee at a China electronics trade show, analyst Brian White has been telling investors to expect an HDTV from Apple by years’ end.
Brian White, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities, issued a note to clients this week saying he had found evidence about a 'Smart TV' actively being developed by Apple with a potential release to the public by the end of the year.
It has been speculated that Apple plans to enter the LCD market. The company appears to be "moving down this path at a faster pace than the market expected," White wrote.
He said, "our research suggests this Smart TV would go well beyond the miniature $99 second-generation Apple TV that the company released last fall and provide a full-blown TV product for consumers."
"The combination of Apple's powerful ecosystem, industrial design savvy, powerful brand and ability to reinvent product categories could make Apple a powerful force in the TV world over the next few years," he added.
White’s claims corroborate forecasts from Piper Jaffray analyst, Gene Munster, who has often expressed his belief that Apple will roll out a full-fledged TV in the next two or three years with a price starting point of about $2,000.
As White, Munster also believes Apple is “uniquely positioned to deliver a premium all-in-one solution […] as connected TVs gain traction, software, content and portability will become the key differentiators,” he said in a note issued to clients earlier this year.
Making little progress in the $100B television market so far, Apple currently sells a small set-top-box called the Apple TV which the company itself admits to be a mere ‘hobby.’
Steve Jobs has been quoted on numerous occasions as saying that providers need a well-established go-to-market strategy in order to count in the industry.
Apple has iTunes. All it needs now is to confirm the aforementioned analysts’ predictions.