Is Apple about to put the Television into Apple TV?

1.12.09: Is Apple about to put the Television into Apple TV?

Usually, browsing around MacSurfer's Headline News late on a Sunday night offers little in the way of new Apple news, usually. On this Sunday, at 9:30 pm I stumbled across this Reuters news story that published at 7:50 pm EST, “LG Display signs LCD supply deal with Apple.” What caught my eye in the story is that Apple is giving LG a $500 million advance. “Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal's duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance, said Son Young-jun, a spokesman for LG Display.”(Reuters). To me, this seems like a clue as to this deal being something “bigger” than simply notebook and desktop computer displays. I would think all the deals with panel manufacturers for notebook & desktop displays would have been mostly solidified long ago. There might be some ebb and flow in the number of panels that Apple would be purchasing from the various panel makers that supply Apple's notebook and desktop computers, but not some mega-deal needing a half a billion dollar down payment. I would also think all the deals for iPods and iPhones were made long ago, and this mega-deal with LG is not for (at least only) mobile device screens. Not to mention that iPods and iPhones may be soon hitting some form of a numbers plateau based on the current saturation level of those products.

An Apple television makes sense, the actual TV is the only missing link in the Apple ecosystem. How can you have Apple TV without an Apple TV? All you Apple-junkies needing a new fix out there would love to be all over an Apple TV 52 inch FHD Motion Blur Reduction Model (100/120Hz). I found an article from C-Net (UK) that came out last October, discussing the possibility of Apple releasing a networked HDTV, and the above mentioned Reuters' article is the next step forward in actually bringing the idea into reality. Sure, everybody owns a Television, but no one owns an Apple TV, yet.

Update 1 (1.12.09) I received a couple of comments that are worth posting.

1. An Apple HDTV from LG sounds interesting. I would like to see it as a monitor-only design, without all the extra garbage coming with current TVs. Include as a peripheral an updated AppleTV with full DVR capabilities and I'd buy the set. I already have a theater system and use my computers to surf the web. I've been putting off buying a large TV because I can't figure out which manufacturer I want to go with. I've been ignoring LG after a friend who works in the appliance repair business told me that LG appliances are troublesome. Are LG LCDs acceptable?

2.Re: LG + Apple display deal... Actually, the reason for the huge commitment by Apple is that Apple is mandating all panels be shifted to native DisplayPort interfaces... where the driver/controller chip directly controls the panel via DisplayPort, not through an interpretive interface as the early panels now used have done. This is a major engineering and design shift for LG, given the general market reticence to omit any other connector from these panels. Apple's about the only major customer out there willing to ship displays (and use displays in notebook and all-in-one systems) with no connector except the DisplayPort jack. This actually saves Apple money, as DisplayPort-only panels are about $5 cheaper to build than ones using multi-interface receivers. Just FYI.
Jack Campbell, jack@aboutjack.com

While Jack's comments seem to shoot down the sensational headline of my recent blog entry, they seem the most true. However, LG already supplies Apple with up to 70% of its lcd panels, which gets back to my point above that most of Apple's deals with panel manufacturers were solidified long ago. Is Apple going to go to using LG as its EXCLUSIVE display manufacturer for all computing devices? Is this deal only about the new DisplayPort technology? I would have to give that idea a big maybe instead of an absolute yes. To me, the deal with LG seems bigger than just gaining exclusivity with Apple, as LG was already the major supplier to Apple–to the tune of 70%. Maybe Apple will not come out with an Apple Television, per say; but might produce a line of computer displays that are so inclusive, including displays larger that 30 inches, that they might as well be considered televisions. If Jack Campbell's comments are correct then I would say that maybe Apple should make a television, why not? Or maybe Apple has simply decided to quit squatting on top of all that cash of theirs, and is ready to unload some of it while the dollar still has some value in the world market.

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