Apple would have had the intention of developing a touch screen television

Like other Tech giants, Apple develops devices that do not necessarily all have the chance of reaching any kind of commercialization. Among the group’s “famous” abandoned projects, the famous Apple Car, which seems to have been definitively buried a few months ago.

More modestly, it is about an Apple TV prototype, also abandoned, that Mark Gurman talks to us this week. In an article published by Bloombergthe journalist reveals that this prototype still exists somewhere in Apple’s premises.

Entering the design phase shortly after the launch of the first iPad, the latter would have been one of the last projects supported by Steve Jobs.

A synchronized device, halfway between the giant iPad and the television

According to information unearthed by Mark Gurman, the idea was “ to create a device with a giant screen that could be nestled in a stand for watching TV, but also double as a touchscreen Mac or a giant iPad when needed “, he explains.

The Bloomberg journalist adds that the device would have been similar, in terms of design, to the old Microsoft PixelSense, with the possibility of reading and synchronizing it with other Apple products, of multimedia content, but also of the ‘use for videoconferencing, or even for office automation.

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« At the height of its ambitions, Apple hoped the device would revolutionize the industry, as the iPhone had done a few years earlier », lit.

Unfortunately, Apple quickly faced the realities of the television market: a low-margin sector, where device renewals are inherently much less regular than in the smartphone market, for example.

A problem that was all the more blocking for Apple in the early 2010s. At the time, the firm relied much less than today on the operation of subscription services and offers. Its economic model therefore depended very heavily on the frequent renewal of its iPhone, iPad and Mac.

At this point, launch a “ low margin device, without the possibility of regular renewals would have been a mistake », comments Gurman.

Making televisions: Apple would think about it again

On a more down-to-earth level, Apple also realized that launching this sort of mix between a giant iPad and a television would have involved excessively high production and transport costs.

« Apple also immediately ran into cost issues, including those related to shipping gigantic panels by air between factories, warehouses and homes. “, explains Gurman.

« The company would have had to develop and produce new chips to animate these screens, as well as input-output electronics. The project would also have required manufacturing facilities for high-quality displays and sufficient supplies of glass ».

We know the rest of the story: Apple ultimately limited itself to designing and marketing boxes intended to connect via HDMI to a third-party television. The experience offered by Apple TVs (especially the latest generations of the device) nevertheless comes close to Steve Jobs’ initial vision for an Apple television.

As part of an interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, the former Apple manager assured that he had “ finally found the solution “, referring to a product that would sync seamlessly with other devices, as well as with iCloud. “It will have the simplest user interface imaginable,” Jobs added.

The fact remains that certain information relayed recently, also by Mark Gurman, suggests a return, at Apple, of this television project designed and manufactured internally. A thesis to which our colleagues at Numerama do not adhere… and which does not really inspire confidence in us either.