With the heavily talked about and rumored iTV in the works from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), major television cable companies may be getting a run for their money as well as Google. With daily business deals and contracts constantly being negotiated through their company with film companies, recording studios, and television networks, cable and satellite providers have better keep a good eye on this technology giant.
Some may say it’s just a rumor, but if history has proven one thing with Apple Inc., rumors quickly become fact. One recent rumor around this talked about technology is that in fact a prototype of the iTV already exists and is in the hands of the Canadian telecommunications companies Rogers and Canada Bell. This may signify a partnership building between the two telcos and Apple meaning Canada will get first dibs on the roll out technology.
How might Google be affected you asked? Well Google as you know owns YouTube. Analysts are keen to speculate that not only will iTV have programming and movie entertainment, but video sharing as well. With the large user following of Apple, this could easily take a good chunk out of YouTube’s revenue which primarily gets it’s revenues from paid ads within their videos.
While there may be some shivering knees out there between the various entertainment companies and stock holders, the details of the iTV are somewhat exciting from a consumer stand point. Based off of rumors, it is said to be an over-sized iPAD (television size) and obviously will be able to synch to all other Apple products via blue tooth or wi-fi.
Essentially, your iPhone and iPad will have the ability to migrate entertainment media files to and from the iTV as well as act as the remote control. Nobody can obviously say for sure this is going to be a functionality in the features, but when has Apple not integrated it’s products for synchronicity? Seriously.
How content will be distributed is entirely speculative right now. I personally think however that eventually you may be able to subscribe/pay for channels not just shows instead of being forced into the channel selections that are bundled in current cable company packages. That is my hope and I don’t see how this might not be an option being you can already pay Apple for the privilege of watching individual programs and movies.
Will Google try to copy the iTV? I think Google will more than likely (in my personal opinion) partner with a manufacturer(s) and have their Android OS integrated into television sets to work with tablets and smartphones opposed to creating their own product. This future is unforeseeable however and anything is possible. I am sure Google will be plotting something here though. When haven’t they fought back?
Pricing of the iTV is probably going to be one heck of a cost. I see the iTV probably costing somewhere between one to two thousand dollars or more. I believe that the iTV will come in different sizes and resolutions if they are serious about entering the television market successfully.
As far as partners in the states, analysts are quick to predict that phone service providers AT&T and Verizon will be the chosen partners for the iTV network distribution in The United States. Predictions of a roll out seem to point somewhere mid 2012, we’ll have to just wait and see.
