Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) intended to release 65 inch and 77 inch OLED display iTVs in 2014, but was forced to push back the retail launch to 2015, according to statements by Korean journalists today. This news, which appears to excitingly confirm the claims of some market analysts that an iTV product was slated for the near future by the Cupertino firm, appeared on the Korea Herald site.
Though the rumor is rather suspicious, coming as it does from an “unnamed” Korean display manufacturing company in Seoul, there is some interesting detail accompanying the statement. At least two identifiable individuals, analyst John Seo of Shinhan Investment and Lee Seung-woo of IBK Securities, support the rumor with statements made to the Korea Herald’s journalists.
These two sources claim that Apple is set on manufacturing 65 inch and 77 inch television displays in the near future. The original plan called for releasing 2 million of these electronics items in 2014, featuring liquid crystal displays. However, a high level design decision switched the technology involved over to OLED displays, or organic light-emitting diode. This pushed production back for a full year while the entire plan was rewritten and facilities were retooled. The potential manufacturer was not specified beyond the fact that they might possibly be capable of fabricating OLED displays in numbers that most competitors cannot.
Beyond the rumors, whether Apple Inc. (AAPL) will ever produce an actual television set is a matter of hot debate among market watchers and analysts. Manufacturing costs of televisions are very high relative to other electronics, and profit margins are usually slender, sometimes to the point of triviality. Such products as iPads and iPhones offer the Cupertino titan much more “bang for their buck” in terms of profits relative to unit manufacturing costs, ease of distribution, and even product recognition.
However, some grist for the opposing view is found both in the persistence of iTV reports, and in the approaching saturation of the smartphone market. Only so many iPhones can be sold before new purchases begin to fall, perhaps steeply, and though the regular planned obsolescence of the iPhone product cycle helps, there is a limit to the number of new markets available to conquer.
The iWatch is unlikely to be a game changer, so it is conceivable that Apple (AAPL) is prepared to bet on the novelty value of an iTV leading to massive sales and expansion in a fresh direction. Only time, and perhaps additional rumors or leaked information, will tell.
