Apple Suspended Plans to Introduce a Television Set, WSJ Reports

Apple Inc. suspended plans to make a TV set more than a year ago, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Instead, the company is working on a new Apple TV set-top box and related online services, the newspaper reported. Those plans have been widely reported by Bloomberg News and other media.

Earlier on Monday, activist investor Carl Icahn wrote an open letter to Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook, saying that the Cupertino, California-based company is undervalued and its shares are worth $240, 86 percent above where they closed Friday. Icahn’s new enthusiasm is driven by his belief that Apple will dominate in two new categories, television and automotive.

Tom Neumayr, a spokesman for Apple, declined to comment.

The question of whether Apple is going to do its own TV set has been a perennial topic. The company has been looking at ways to improve its set-top product, called Apple TV, and has been in talks with broadcasters including ABC, CBS and Fox to provide Web-based television later this year, people familiar with the effort have said.

The TV service would include about 25 channels and may include cable channels from companies owned by the media conglomerates, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. In April, HBO began offering a new stand-alone service on Apple devices for $14.99 a month.

Great Interest

Cook has also fueled speculation about Apple’s plans for TV, including on the Charlie Rose Show in September.

“TV is one that we continue to have great interest in,” Cook said. “I choose my words carefully there. But you know, TV is one of those things that, if we’re really honest, it’s stuck back in the 70s. Think about how much your life has changed and all the things around you that have changed, yet TV, when you go in your living room to watch the TV or wherever it might be, it almost feels like you’re rewinding the clock.”