The rumor mill has been in high gear lately as it attempts to pinpoint exactly what Apple's highly anticipated entrance into the TV industry will bear. Analysts Staw Wu and Sterne Agee believe one of the standout features of the speculated TV set will be the ability for users to customize channel lineups via an Internet-based content subscription.
The system would allow users to pick and choose which channels they would like to pay for instead of the all-inclusive packages currently available from traditional cable providers. In order to do so Apple would need to reach unprecedented content deals with studios, much in the same way it did with music companies when it launched iTunes.
In a note to investores, Wu wrote on Wednesday: "This is obviously much more complicated (than current offerings) from a licensing standpoint. And in our view, would change the game for television and give AAPL a big leg-up against the competition."
Apple currently allows users to rent and download movies, and download TV shows, but Wu believes the missing piece is live broadcasting. He went on to say that Apple could obviously partner with a cable or satellite provider but the real revolution would come from offering live broadcasting over the Internet.
Rumors of an Apple-branded TV has been floating around for some time and picked up steam after Walter Isaacson revealed that before his death, Steve Jobs believed he figured out what an Apple TV should be, saying it would have "the simplest user interface you could imagine."
[via Apple Insider]
