Former Apple exec: ‘I simply don’t believe Apple will make, or even wants to make, a TV set’

[Corey]

As Apple (AAPL) bulls insist that the company plans to launch an own-brand HDTV next year, again, plugged-in former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassee isn’t convinced. In his weekly Monday Note column, Gassee writes that industry watchers have misinterpreted recent comments from CEO Tim Cook, and blown things out of proportion.

“I simply don’t believe Apple will make, or even wants to make, a TV set,” Gassee wrote in his column. In line with a number of earlier reports, he sees Apple’s plans for the living room involving a set-top box and a re-envisioning of content delivery long before they involve a physical television.

He also suggests that Apple might not really have anything up its sleeve — yet. Instead, Cook’s comments that TV is “an area of intense interest” for Apple could simply be putting the world on notice. “Apple’s CEO is indicating that he’ll continue to invest talent and money until the TV obstacles are finally surmounted. In other words: ‘Join us and ride the wave that will sweep away the competition.’ “

And Gassee certainly isn’t the only industry watcher who doesn’t believe Apple will launch an own-brand HDTV in 2013. ”We didn’t forecast any revenue or EPS contribution from an Apple TV for 2012 and we don’t plan to for 2013,” BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk wrote in a recent note to clients.

 

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