Is it just me or has speculation regarding a monster HD TV set made by Apple gone quiet recently? At the beginning of the year the rumor mill spun furiously regarding a new set, based mostly on a key phrase from Steve Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson. “Finally cracked it” is a quote often overused and too readily applied to make rumor seem like concrete.

We heard about it having Siri voice control, massive Retina display, the ability to control almost any electronic item in your house, and even recognize individual users when they enter the room. It all sounds very Tomorrow’s World, and to any technology nut it’s enough to make you get giddy with excitement. We even heard that it could possibly launched this year. Some stating it would be released as early as summer 2012. Needless to say, none of it is true until Apple says so.

The fact is this: Apple is/was definitely working on a prototype TV set. Jobs virtually admitted it. Of course, no details have been given regarding its size, features or resolution. All those topics have been discussed at length by “sources in the know”. But, as we all know: great rumors don’t always lead to an end product. Especially not with Cupertino. There’s got to be a reason for the new TV. It’s not Apple’s style to release a product in to the market, especially when it’s full of devices doing a pretty good job already.

With the iPod, iPhone, iMac and iPad, Apple reinvented an industry. Each one served a purpose. The sole purpose of being “better” because existing options were just okay. In the TV market we have brands like Samsung, Sony and LG all releasing stunning looking TV’s with the latest Smart technology, crisp, clear visuals and tons of third party media resources all available at the touch of a button. And most important: they’re not expensive.

If Apple was to release a TV, its features, design and usability would have to be so far above what everyone else was doing that you couldn’t fail to notice. Why? Because you can be sure that an Aluminum unibody TV designed in California will cost much more than a bog standard $500 TV set. Look at Apple’s Cinema Display. It’s hideously expensive, and that’s only 27-inches.

Prior to the iPhone launch, Jony Ive and his team went back and forth on whether or not to release or scrap it. Even the phone that changed the destiny of smartphones wasn’t a dead cert to be released. How much more unlikely is it that a TV set is unveiled?

The simple truth is that the TV may never come because – just like the world of printers, home telephones, radios, lawn mowers and toasters – other companies are doing a great job. Apple doesn’t need to get involved, except to please that small group of fanboys who’d but absolutely anything with an Apple logo on it. That on its own is not a good enough reason.

What do you think? Will Apple ever launch a TV set, or is its Apple TV box enough?