Get more from your shiny box of joy
In a recent interview on Bloomberg Radio, Apple analyst Gene Munster assured that the Apple television is real („we met with some component suppliers at CES“) and gave more details on what he expects from Apple’s forthcoming TV.
Munster thinks Apple TV set „is going to be the biggest thing in consumer electronics since the smartphone came up.“ And he is betting that it will be announced later this year, probably for the holiday season.
9to5Mac is citing „reliable sources familiar with Apple’s upcoming product release” that claim Apple is launching a new Apple TV alongside the iPad 3 on March 7. This is not a long-rumored Apple TV set but an updated Apple TV set-top box.
Just one day before Apple announced it will bring AirPlay Mirroring to Mountain Lion this summer, AirParrot, an app that does exactly the same thing ML will do – mirrors your Mac’s screen to your HDTV connected to the Apple TV 2 – has been released. So if you don’t want to wait six months until the new Apple’s OS is released or you don’t own a Mac with a second-generation Intel Core (it seems that AirPlay Mirroring in ML only works on the Macs with second-generation Intel Core, while AirParrot works fine on older macs), you can give AirParrot a try just now. And AirParrot’s developers promise they will be offering “features that Mountain Lion doesn’t currently have or advertise as coming.”
Apple today unveiled the developer preview of Mountain Lion, a new version of Mac OS X that includes new features like Notification Center, Messages, Game Center, Notes, Reminders and Twitter. But the coolest feature of Mountain Lion is undoubtedly AirPlay Mirroring that lets you stream what’s on your Mac to your HDTV via Apple TV 2.
With AirPlay Mirroring built into Mac OS, you will be able to stream whatever is on your desktop – webpages, photos, videos, presentation – directly to your HDTV, with only one click on an AirPlay icon on the OS X menu bar.
According to Globe and Mail, Canada’s largest telecommunications companies – Rogers and Bell – are in talks with Apple to become Canadian launch partners for its Apple iTV. “They’re not closed to doing it with one [company] or doing it with two,” said one source who is familiar with the talks. “They’re looking for a partner. They’re looking for someone with wireless and broadband capabilities,” reports Globe and Mail.
More interestingly, another source said Rogers and Bell already have the product in their labs.
Apple may introduce a television product called the iTV, Bloomberg reports, citing Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek. In a note to clients, Misek wrote that Apple may want to use user-generated video from customers who use iPads and iPhones as recorders, which would give the company “the ability to leverage content into a YouTube-like model.”
According to Misek, Apple may buy access to exclusive and non-exclusive programs, possibly through a partnership with carriers such as AT&T and Verizon. Jefferies & Co. analyst believes that “lower margins and higher risks” are likely to drive away Apple from creating its own content.
