Wednesday Apple Rumors: Foxconn Testing 46 to 55-Inch iTVs

by Christopher Freeburn | December 19, 2012 1:25 pm

daily apple rumors AAPL[1]Here are your Apple rumors[2] and AAPL news items for today:

More Chatter: Rumors of an upcoming Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[3]) television set were boosted by a new report from Focus Taiwan that Foxconn is currently testing early TV set prototypes with screens ranging between 46 and 55 inches[4]. The new report follows an American media account last week that said Apple was testing TV prototypes with its Asian manufacturing partners, Sharp and Foxconn. The latest report suggests that Apple could unveil its line of TVs late next year. Some analysts have been predicting an iTV for at least a year, but despite a stream of media reports, it has failed to materialize. Apple has not indicated that it is working on a TV, but in a recent interview CEO Tim Cook stoked speculation over a possible TV line by saying that current TV sets were dated and that television was an area of interest for the company.

Data Repair: Apple is negotiating a deal with Foursquare that would bring the location-based app’s local data to its much criticized maps app[5], the Wall Street Journal notes. Apple dumped Google‘s (NASDAQ:GOOG[6]) long established and popular maps app from the back-end of iOS earlier this year after the Internet search giant declined to offer voice-guided navigation on iOS devices, a key selling point. However, Apple’s in-house developed maps app was quickly derided by users for cartographic errors and glitches. Recently, Apple had to fix the app after Australian police warned drivers not to use it to get to the city of Mildura, which the app showed 43 miles away from its actual location. Google has since relaunched its maps app on iOS.

Chips Ahoy: According to a report in The Oregonian, both Oregon and New York are vying to attract a computer chip manufacturing plant that may be used to make chips for Apple[7]. The effort has been dubbed “Project Azalea” by New York officials. The new manfacturing plant would employ 1,000 workers at a 3.2 million-square-foot faciltity. Industry sources speculate that the chip-maker in question its Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM[8]). A slew of recent media reports have indicated that Apple is looking to shift a significant portion of the chip production away from Samsung, its smartphone and tablet rival, to TSM.

For more about the company, check out our previous Apple Rumors[9] stories.

Endnotes:

  1. [Image]: https://investorplace.com/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/
  2. Apple rumors: https://investorplace.com/search/?q=Apple+Rumors&searchsubmit=Search
  3. AAPL: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=AAPL
  4. testing early TV set prototypes with screens ranging between 46 and 55 inches: http://focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_Detail.aspx?Type=aECO&ID=201212190038
  5. local data to its much criticized maps app: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324907204578186074223787936.html
  6. GOOG: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=GOOG
  7. that may be used to make chips for Apple: http://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/index.ssf/2012/12/oregon_courts_mysterious_proje.html
  8. TSM: http://studio-5.financialcontent.com/investplace/quote?Symbol=TSM
  9. Apple Rumors: https://investorplace.com/2012/04/hot-topics/apple-rumors-stock-news/

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/12/wednesday-apple-rumors-foxconn-testing-46-to-55-inch-itvs/