Apple settop box rumor...............
Apple in entertainment project -analyst
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, March 10 (Reuters) - Apple Computer Inc
. is working on a project to develop a new generation
computer-entertainment device, according to an industry
analyst.
"There are signs that Steve Jobs over the next 120 days
will shake up the computer industry by introducing a very
low-cost system," said Richard Doherty, director of the
Envisioneering Group in Seaford, N.Y.
Doherty said Jobs, Apple's co-founder and interim chief
executive, is spearheading the bid to develop a low-cost
portable device combining a set-top cable TV box, Internet
access and a CD or a DVD player.
"It looks like every single person at Apple is working on
this project," Doherty said. "It's the 'Manhattan Project' of
Apple Computer."
News of the project first broke on CNET's News.com, an
Internet-based technology news service.
"We don't comment on rumors and speculation," said Russell
Brady, a spokesman for the Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple.
Apple, which recently shut down its Newton hand-held
computer division, has a lot of technology to work with in its
research coffers, analysts said.
"Think about all the pieces they have, the PowerPC (chip),
QuickTime (for multimedia content creation)," said Louis
Mazzucchelli, a Gerard Klauer & Mattison analyst. "They have
the Pippin experience under their belt and they learned
something with the Newton."
Apple's Pippin was sold by the maker of the virtual pet
Tamagotchi - Bandai of Japan - and combined a game console
that used a television screen and accessed the Internet.
Doherty said Apple had not laid off many members of its
Newton team and they were now working on the new project.
Apple is currently adding staff, after laying off staffers
last year as it moved to cut costs and restructure the company
amid big losses and a steep market share decline.
Doherty said the new device aimed to provide low-cost
access to the Internet for the educational market and would
include more entertainment features.
Analysts differed on when Jobs might go public with the
project.
Jobs is scheduled to give keynote addresses at the Seybold
Publishing conference next week in New York and at the National
Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas April 6.
"NAB would be the venue for this," Mazzucchelli suggested,
adding that Apple was expected to introduce a new PowerBook
notebook computer at Seybold, code-named Wall Street.
Doherty said the project could be one reason why Apple delayed
its annual meeting from February to mid-April.
Apple is now expected to hold its annual shareholders
meeting around April 22.
"(Jobs) will wait for the exact climate," Doherty said. "He
will feel the pulse." |
