14 DAY TRIAL // An analyst with UBS Investment Research has issued a note to clients this week saying his firm strongly believes Cupertino will launch an Apple-branded HDTV soon, and that it will be set up in every home by teams of Apple store staffers.
Every analyst that tracks Apple has to have at least one fixation with a yet-unconfirmed product that they believe Cupertino will spit out.
In the television market, Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster maintains that Apple will roll out a full-fledged HDTV that will completely revolutionize the way we consume content on the big screen.
While that idea remains a theory at best, another analyst now chimes in with a similar prognosis.
[admark=1]He goes as far as to predict Apple will assemble Genius Squads (much like Best Buy’s Geek Squads) and dispatch them to whomever orders a next-generation Apple TV.
"What we envision of Genius Bar is similar to the Geek Squad, which is fairly well known in the U.S. as Best Buy's service department to facilitate technology adoption," reads a research note from UBS Investment Research’s Maynard Um, who is joining Munster in his belief that Apple will, some day, take over the living room.
"In many respects, Apple already offers a number of these services in-store,” Um continues.
“However, in our view, one primary difference between a Geek and a Genius is that a Geek has a car. If Apple ultimately enters the television set market, we believe it may have to offer some type of installation service (wall mounting, delivery, etc.)."
Um doesn’t stop here. He predicts Apple will not settle on mounting just TV sets in people’s houses.
Since the Geniuses will be highly-trained in all things Apple (as they are today), why couldn’t they mount home automation technologies as well?
Yes, UM believes Apple will be making a foray in that market too. His research note adds:
“The market for home automation today is fragmented and a number of standards would have to come together for this to likely become more feasible.”
“However, we can envision a home where the television set or tablet, becomes the central console to control the home (lights, security cameras/alarms, audio, video, home theater, HVAC/climate control, door locks, appliances, et al) and that can be accessible from outside the home via a web browser or iPhone application (facilitated through a service from its data center).”
“This, in our opinion, would drive further halo effects or bundled sales of Apple's products, particularly if the company transfers its ease of use to these systems.”
Um believes that Apple will first and foremost begin with the TV set, then delve deeper into what can be done from that big screen hanging from the wall.
By the time all the groundwork is laid, he believes Apple will merely beef up the offerings on its current Apple TV product - the small, black set-top box that sells for $99 and runs a stripped down version of iOS.