Apple is already building prototype TV sets
tech.fortune.cnn.comThis may be Apple jumping the shark, imo. Why not spend that time and money making Apple TV better without having to include the T.V.? There is no way they can get much market share of the T.V. business. The economy is down and when people go to BestBuy they are going to choose low to mid tier.
People could choose low to mid tier phones -- but they buy iPhones instead. They could choose low to mid tier laptops -- but they buy MacBook Pros. They could buy Xooms but they buy iPads.
There's a lot of room for improvement with TVs. How many remote controls do you have? How many steps do you have to take to get your downloaded video to play on your TV, with audio? How many cables do you need? How many different services do you have to go to find the stuff you want to watch?
Maybe most importantly, how much do you pay your cable company per month for the "privilege" of getting a bundle of channels, most of which you never watch?