Apple Demanding Price Cuts, iHDTV Next?

Apple has done a marvelous job making iPad the device to beat in the tablet market. It has not only built a tough-to-beat ecosystem for iPad, it has forced competitors to play the low-pricing game as well. While we don’t expect the company to reduce iPad prices significantly in the future, Apple is looking to receive price cuts on parts for its tablets. As published on Digitimes, Chinese-language Economic Daily News is suggesting Apple is interested in reducing its costs considering the amount of business it brings to component suppliers:

Since Apple’s tablet PC shipments are expected to grow 70% sequentially to eight million units in the second quarter, significantly benefiting related upstream component suppliers, Apple has demand its suppliers to provide cuts in return, the paper noted.

Apple will be releasing a new iPhone in the upcoming months. A new iPad will most likely make it to the market in the next spring. But it won’t be stopping there. The company has quietly updated AirPort Extreme Base Station and Time Capsule already. The new AEBS, model MD031AM/A, will offer dual-band Wi-Fi networking for up to 50 concurrent users. Time Capsule now includes as much as 3 GB of storage. New Macs are on the way too. These updates are great but could Apple take it to the next level by introducing an iHDTV to the market? That’s what Dailytech is reporting.

What would an iHDTV look like? It could have Apple TV + iTunes inside. Apple may be interested in Netflix’s business model. It is still highly doubtful that we will see an iHDTV anytime soon. As TechCrunch’s MG Siegler put it, Apple likes to be in control of its products from manufacturing to shipping. Besides, we have been hearing rumors about iHDTV or i3DTV for a long time now. They will remain just rumors for now.