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Report: Apple Testing Out Television Designs

A new report citing an inside source claims that Apple has been testing out designs for a smart television set.

December 12, 2012

Last week, Apple CEO Tim Cook stoked new interest in the constant rumors surrounding a possible Apple smart television when he told NBC News that televisions are "an area of intense interest."

"When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years," he said.

Now the Wall Street Journal has added to the drumbeat of Apple TV rumors by citing a source who claims the company is currently testing out designs for such a television.

Apple "has been working on testing a few designs for a large-screen high-resolution TV," the paper said. However, it's not exactly a done deal. "[The television] isn't a formal project yet. It is still in the early stage of testing," according to the Journal.

Apple has reportedly been working with Japanese television manufacturer Sharp, and Taiwan's Hon Hai (the company that helps Apple assemble the iPad and iPhone) on prototype designs for the TV set.

These rumors for a while now, ever since Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson said that the Apple co-founder had an interest in the TV space. Earlier this week, analyst Peter Misek, who has consistently reported that an Apple TV is in the works, renewed his claims and told clients that the product would launch some time in the fall of 2013. There have also been reports, however, that Apple is that would include partnerships with cable comapnies.

On Tuesday, blogger Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, who is considered to be a reliable source on all things Apple, said that the key to the Apple TV question is "what problem Apple will solve."

"Apple will not enter a market unless it feels it can make a significant impact on the current state of the industry," he wrote in a blog post. As a result, the question is not what size TV Apple will produce, but how Apple might provide content "for the consumer whenever they want it."