New iPads may not be the only big product Apple releases next month. On his Twitter account, Google Ventures partner and longtime TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler claims that Apple will be unveiling “new Apple TV hardware” next month. Siegler says that the new hardware is not the long-fabled “iTV” that analysts have been breathlessly predicting for years, although he isn’t giving any further details on what the new hardware might be.
We’ve heard rumors lately that Apple has been negotiating directly with content providers to bring programs directly to Apple TV set-top boxes over the Internet without requiring a pay-TV subscription. It seems unlikely, however, that Apple has finalized any negotiations in such short time, especially given how long it took to work out deals with record labels for iTunes Radio and how long it’s taken to work out a deal with China Mobile to carry the iPhone.
9to5Mac, for its part, says that “Apple is thoroughly testing Xbox Kinect-like motion sensors for future TV-related products,” although it doesn’t know how close those products are to being released.
