Does the New iMac Foretell the Next Apple TV?

No. A 40-inch iMac is almost certainly not in the cards. The display input is an awesome idea, but mainly because displays are typically longer-lived than the rest of the computer. I can see a lot of people buying a 27" iMac and then, in 2-3 years, buying a Mac Pro and plugging it into their existing iMac for the screen.

I don't see anyone buying an iMac instead of an HDTV. The resolution on the iMac is way overkill for 10 ft viewing, but is great for computing. If Apple were to release a 40" computer (with 1080p resolution), it would more likely be branded Apple TV (or something new) than iMac.

Not so crazy really. Samsung and other HDTV manufacturers are already starting to include a barebones PC running Windows in their television sets. I was quite skeptical of the article until the last paragraph reminded me of this. It would be a stretch for Apple but people laughed when they heard Apple was making a phone. I like Apple but still wasn't sure about them going up against the likes of Nokia, and now Nokia is scrambling to catch up. Apple has the ability to shake things up.

> Do I think this is definitely the direction Apple is moving with the iMac? Not necessarily, but its actions thus far have certainly got me thinking about it and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Apple make a strong play at the high-end of the HDTV market. In a few years you may be able to buy 30, 40 and 50 inch iMacs, at a premium over standard HDTVs, but with a lot more functionality built-in. It’s certainly Apple’s style to go into an industry and try to slice off the top 10 percent of market share, which also happens to include the lion’s share of the profits. It’s done it in computers, it’s done it with cell phones, why not with HDTVs

Was thinking about this yesterday, when I realised that with an EyeTV the 27" iMac would be larger and have more features than our current LCD TV and DVD playing/hard disk recording device, and look neater too.

Also when I compared it to a colleague spending most of a thousand UK pounds on a 32" Samsung TV with a media player, ethernet port, basic web browser and USB ports in it, even at the current price the basic 27" is not terribly far away from that.

They could be a good TV now with the right TV Tuner and good software.

An Apple-branded big-screen HDTV might explain the 'mystery shipping costs' forecast by Apple for the next quarter. [1]

I'd love to see in such a true Apple TV:

- 2 iPod-connector docks

- video-camera

- built-in infrared corner-LEDs (to support Wii-style pointing-controllers)

[1] http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/20/apples-sauce-34-billion...