JEFF ROBBIN, ITUNES TO APPLE TV

Post-Jobs, Apple has still managed to keep itself interesting, even though the news has been more of the products and less for the Apple officials. But here is a news piece, which notes the shift of an Apple Inc.’s software engineer to a leader. Sources knowledgeable about the project noted that Jeff Robbin, an Apple software engineer, who had built iTunes, would now lead its development of a television set. Jeff Robbin has been an important asset for Apple as the company has seen him create the iPod, apart from iTunes media store.

Robbin’s new role would see him guiding the company’s internal development of the new TV effort. The involvement of Robbin signifies Apple’s commitment to extend its leadership in tablets and smartphones.

The Apple team have not acknowledged the fact that its developing a TV set. Basically, talking about Steve Jobs biography, Jobs had told biographer Walter Isaacson that he had “finally cracked” how to build an integrated TV with a simple user interface that would synchronize content wirelessly with Apple’s other devices.

In the biography “Steve Jobs”, which has been released today by CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster, which notes that Jobs was working on the simplest format for Apple TV. Isaacson said that Jobs told him that ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine’.

A spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, Trudy Muller, declined to comment on the same.

Briefing about the Apple TV, the company has limited its approach to only a small $99 gadget, which one can plug in to a TV. With it, one can get access to iTunes, Netflix Inc’s streaming service and YouTube content. It was said that even though the efforts from the Tech Giant were huge, Jobs called it Apple’s “hobby,” rather than something designed to be a serious moneymaker.

The views however seem to be changing as now the company has a prototype TV in its working. According to Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray Cos, the consideration of the product being introduced may be by late next year or 2013.

Once the Apple TV comes into the market, the competitiveness is bound to increase. The waring times between Apple and Samsung, would move to the next level as Samsung, along with Sony share the same fields. If a full TV set is to come up from Apple, then Munster forecasts that next year, sales of flat-panel sets could count for around 220 million sets, out of which Apple can buy in a small share of around 1.4 million. This share could help Apple strengthen its revenue as they could add quality earnings into their kitty. Munster notes that Apple could add $6 billion in revenue to the company’s top line by 2014.

Talking about Apple’s arc rival, Google, Apple carries a ‘plus 1’ as Google has been struggling to earn a market in its TV section. The main difference here would be that unlike Google, Apple would even work on building hardware as well as software.