Edible Apple

With all of the iPhone 5 rumors swirling around these days, you might have forgotten about Apple’s rumored push into the HDTV market. Last we heard, Apple was working on HDTV prototypes that will reportedly blow Netflix out of the water. Though rumors are naturally scarce, it’s largely believed that if Apple does in fact release an HDTV, it will incorporate Apple TV, iCloud, DVR, and iTunes App Store functionality. Indeed, this mythical TV will let users rent movies, stream movies, record TV shows, and even play games.

Adding yet more information to a rumor that seems to be picking up more signal than noise as the weeks pass, analyst Trip Chowdhry of Global Equities Research issued a note to investors claiming that Apple is planning to launch an HDTV set in March of 2012 with three distinct sizes and pricepoints.

Fleshing things out, Chowdhry writes that Apple’s HDTV offering will be most similar to the 46-inch Bose VideoWave set.

AppleInsider reports:

Apple’s rumored HDTV is apparently being benchmarked against the VideoWave because it has reduced its number of cables to just three. Chowdhry believes that any television set from Apple would have just one cable.

The VideoWave also sports a thickness of six inches, packing in 16 speakers. Chowdhry said that Apple’s purported HDTV will be a third as thick and will also have 16 speakers.

“These 16 built-in speakers gives a complete surround sound experience, without the need for any external speakers,” he said.

“The DSP chip in Apple HDTV is a brand new chip based on Apple’s acquisition of PA Semi,” Chowdhry writes. “As of now, this new chip is not in mass production.”

Okay, this is some tantalizing information, but let’s not forget whose relaying the message.

If you recall, Chowdhry in May, 2010 made the bufoonish statement that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer would speak during that year’s WWDC event.

So yeah, take this all with a grain of salt.

Still, Apple’s interest in the HDTV market has been mentioned from a variety of different sources, and while we can never count on an Apple product hitting the market until Steve Jobs graces that stage, it’s no secret that Apple, in addition to a number of other countries, have had their eye on controlling the living room for years now.

An highly integrated HDTV with just one cable? Now that’s intriguing.