The new Apple TV will, in five years, change how people watch TV, according to an analyst with a sterling track record of predicting innovations at the tech giant.
In the most detailed report yet on what the hotly anticipated TV set from Apple will look like and how it will operate, Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray predicted the device will:
* Be unveiled later this year and go on sale in early 2013.
* Cost between $1,500 and $2,000.
* Include “many existing Apple styling cues including aluminum casing and reduction of wires.”
* Include voice-controlled Siri and connect to the Apple App Store for games and music.
* Permit viewers to buy channels separately instead of bundled as is the case now with cable, and store recorded shows in a data “cloud,” not on the set itself.
“The bottom line is that we believe in five years Apple will have a significant hand in changing how people consume content on their TV,” the report says.
The innovations will, he predicts, mean the end of watching your favorite shows according to a network schedule or pay for channels you don’t use.
At the time of his death last year, founder Steve Jobs was reportedly working on an Apple TV set that promised to have the same effect on television that the iPod had on music.
Tim Cook, who succeeded Jobs as CEO, last week teased the attendees at a digital conference about the set, saying: “Never have I seen the things I can’t talk about today.”