Rumours of a full-blown Apple iTV have been simmering for nearly as long as those of the Apple Watch, but despite nothing appearing beyond the odd update to the Apple TV box, Apple CEO Tim Cook has again hinted that something bigger could be in the pipeline.
Speaking in an interview on the Charlie Rose Show, Cook added fuel to the ongoing rumours, confirming that TV is an area that Apple continues to persevere.
"TV is one we continue to have great interest in - I choose my words carefully there - but TV is one of those things that, if we're really honest, is stuck back in the seventies," he said.
"Think how much your life has changed, and all the things around you that have changed, and yet TV, when you go into the living room to watch TV or wherever it may be, it almost feels like you're rewinding the clock and you've entered a time capsule and you're going backwards.
"The interface is terrible, I mean it's awful. You watch things when they come on unless you remember to record them."
Do the time warp
"So why don't you fix that?" was Charlie Rose's obvious response.
"I don't want to get into what we're doing in the future, but we've taken stabs with Apple TV," replied Cook.
"And Apple TV now has over 10 million users so it's far exceeded the hobby label that we placed on it. And we've added more and more content to it this year, so there's increasingly more things you can do on there. But this is an area that we continue to look at."
The last we heard, Apple has shelved its TV plans to focus on its first smartwatch. But with that now out the door, it might be time for Jony Ive and Cook to blow off the cobwebs and get back to work on changing the way we watch TV - whether that turns out to be a full, Physical TV set or a more significant overhaul to the existing box.
You can see the full clip of the chat with Charlie Rose below.
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