Update: Bloomberg reports that Jeff Robbin, who helped create the iPod in addition to the iTunes media store, is now guiding Apple’s internal development of the new TV effort.
The possibility of Apple launching a TV set has been a rumor for months, but the upcoming authorized biography of Steve Jobs seems to give it new momentum. Quoting now from author Walter Isaacson:
“‘I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,’ [Jobs] told me. ‘It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.'”
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But a TV set by itself wouldn’t crack the code for TV of the future (as Google TV has shown). “Apple needs to try to redefine not only the experience of watching TV but the business model of how consumers pay for it once again,” explained a WSJ story back in August, which revealed that Apple is “working on new technology to deliver video to televisions, and has been discussing whether to try to launch a subscription TV service.” As all of us know, disrupting the TV business without it collapsing on your head is a tall order, so we’ll just have to stay tuned…