Rumor: Apple OLED TV set to release in April/May?

TechnoBuffalo concept render

It’s not often that Apple rumors don’t come from the usual group of rumor-spinning sites: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider or MacRumors. This speculation comes exclusively from TechnoBuffalo. Its editors have received information about the Apple HDTV that has been subject of speculation for the past few years. It’s only since the Steve Jobs biography was released that any of us took any real notice of it. Prior to the late former Apple CEO’s statement that he’d “cracked it”, Apple entering a market already well established and saturated seemed incredibly unlikely. Now it seems a certainty.

TechnoBuffalo received some interesting tidbits from a “high-ranking source with a major electronics retailer”. The TV set is almost definitely in the works, and this source claims to have seen it – at least in its pre-production form. It’s stunning, incredibly thin, and uses OLED panels of various sizes up to 42-inches. That much is expected. And, it could be released as early as April or May this year.

What is incredibly interesting is that this set could become much more than a TV. If the Mac was the digital hub of your life, syncing music, video, email and the like, this TV set is the hub of your home. It will be so much more than a TV synced up with iCloud. It will be built to control things like your oven, garage doors etc. That’s if these rumors are true. This kind of control will almost certainly require you to have a specific set of compatible and optimized accessories. It could also contain a whole set of awesome features like facial recognition and Siri-like voice control. The TV could use the facial recognition software to “wake up” when someone it recognises walks in to the room. A pretty nifty feature huh?

I’ve always said that if Apple is likely to release a TV, it needs to be game changing. If even a couple of these features exist in reality, it certainly will be. An OLED panel will be amazing, for color and contrast. Plus, OLED is incredibly energy efficient. Only downside is that this set won’t likely fit in the sub $1,000 category. Think $2,000 plus. If I start saving now, I may gather enough cash by the time the third generation is released in 2014..

What are your thoughts on a TV that controls your home? Does it make the TV too big a part of your life? Comment below or tweet me.

Via: TechnoBuffalo