Apple Could Still Be Planning Television-Related Announcement for Late This Year

apple_tv_interface_2012Back in February, former TechCrunch writer and Google Ventures partner MG Siegler reported that he was hearing "chatter" about Apple making a significant push into television in the fall of this year. While Siegler was unable to say whether the push would include an actual television set from the outset, he believed that something was indeed happening, whether it be opening up the existing Apple TV up to third-party developers or launching a new Apple TV set-top box with expanded capabilities.

Siegler appeared on yesterday's episode of The Talk Show with John Gruber, and near the end of the podcast talk turned to Apple's plans for a lower-cost "iPhone 5C" and the iWatch. But as noted by Business Insider, Siegler also slipped in a brief comment indicating that Apple may still be planning some sort of television announcement for "as soon as this November". The relevant bit begins at the 1:27:00 mark of the podcast:

Not to go into rumor central here but the latest things I've heard, that some sort of television product — not necessarily a television screen but something — could be coming as soon as this November. And I think there's some surprises there about what it could actually be and I don't know this for sure yet, but there's been whispers about, so I'm not going to write anything about it, but there's whispers out there that the interaction with it could be the interesting thing. People have talked about voice, but I think that that might be out the window and there might be some new way to interact with whatever this thing is.

Apple has been expanding its Apple TV offerings in recent months, working more closely with TV content providers to host their content on the set-top box. Back in June, Apple added several new channels to the box, including WatchESPN, HBO GO, Sky News, anime site Crunchyroll, and music concert and documentary streaming service Qello. Apple is also close to launching a Time Warner Cable app and television network The CW has said that it is working on an app for the device.

Related Roundup: Apple TV
Buyer's Guide: Apple TV (Don't Buy)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
terminal macos tahoe

Apple's Terminal App Gets Colorful Redesign in macOS Tahoe

Monday June 16, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's Terminal app is getting a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal will support 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, according to Apple's Platforms State of the Union presentation at WWDC 2025. The app will also adopt the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...

Top Rated Comments

Mad Mac Maniac Avatar
155 months ago
Gene Munster just jizzed in his pants!
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yaxomoxay Avatar
155 months ago
I hope Tim Cook does not fuel any rumors anymore regarding iWatch or iTV. Just show when its ready, no more promises.

Dude we need rumors in order to survive a boring Friday afternoon or Monday morning at work....
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gmcalpin Avatar
155 months ago
I get this feeling that Apple's “TV” is an AppleTV SDK + deals with content providers plus a 4K monitor and not any kind of integrated “smart TV.”

And I would be perfectly happy with that.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Moonjumper Avatar
155 months ago
Opening up the Apple TV to app developers is more interesting than an Apple television set. Although I would still like to see an Apple television set.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
155 months ago
What new ways are left? Foot control?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
155 months ago
What new ways are left? Foot control?

The simplest way.

Mind Control.

The iThink.

:D
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)