Best Buy Survey Fires Up Apple Television Dreamers

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A recent Best Buy customer survey asked how shoppers felt about the features of a new Apple-branded television, raising speculation about whether or not the fabled device really is about to hit store shelves.

Best Buy’s customer survey asks about an Apple HDTV with a 42-inch screen. The TV runs iOS, supports the App Store and iCloud, is AirPlay-ready, and uses your iPhone or iPad as a remote. The survey also says the US$1,499 TV includes a built-in iSight camera and Skype video conferencing.

Did Best Buy leak Apple's TV specs? Probably not.Did Best Buy leak Apple’s TV specs? Probably not.

Referencing iSight and Skype instead of FaceTime camera and FaceTime video chat is a pretty good tipoff that Apple isn’t involved with the survey since the company doesn’t have a habit of using outdated product names, nor does it regularly highlight competing services over its own — like hyping Skype instead of FaceTime.

Apple also isn’t known for bringing retailers in on its unannounced product plans, especially in ways that will quickly lead to Internet leaks.

While the survey will no doubt get Apple Television hopefuls excited about the possibility of a pending product release, what’s more likely is that Best Buy is simply testing the waters to see if there’s any interest in such a device from its own customer base.

[Thanks to The Verge for the heads up.]

Jeff Gamet

Jeff Gamet

Jeff is the Mac Observer's Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of "The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X" from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also co-hosts the We Have Communicators podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other podcasts, too. Jeff dreams in HD.

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1 Comments

jfbiii

It was just a way for Best Buy to sell extended survey warranties. for $19.99 you get to bring in your old outdated inaccurate Apple TV survey and get a brand new one when/if Apple releases the real Apple TV.

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