Apple
could substantially boost its profits if the rumors are true and the
company is planning a move into the TV business, Barclays Capital
analyst Ben Reitzes asserts this morning in a research note.
Reitzes picks up on the latest flurry of rumor-mongering on the subject, which was triggered by a Best Buy survey asking for feedback from consumers on how they’d respond to Apple offering a 42-inch $1,499 TV running iOS, complete with iCloud and App Store access, and the ability to use an iPad or iPhone as a remote control.
The theoretical device Best Buy lays out would include an iSight camera and microphone for Skype (and FaceTime, I would imagine) and access to streaming content from Netflix, YouTube and Flickr.
“If Apple were to sell a TV, we continue to believe its margins and pricing could be industry leading given its vertical integration with content,” writes Reitzes, who has weighed on this possibility more than once in the past. “We believe that Siri could be used as a groundbreaking interface for a TV, which could be used as a content hub – glued together by iOS and iOS devices. In fact, Apple’s eventual television could be so much more than a TV – including gaming, video communication, content delivery, Apps, computing and all the capabilities of the current Apple TV – it is really not fair to compare it to products already on the market.”
Reitzes thinks Apple’s TV line could contribute $17 billion in revenue and $5.40 a share in profits in FY 2013, or 11% of his current EPS estimate of $48.46 a share.
AAPL shares today set another new all-time high; the stock is up $5.25, or 1.1%, to $469.22.
Update: The Toronto-based Globe and Mail reports that Apple has helped secret discussions with both BCE and Rogers Communications about potentially partnering with Apple on a Canadian launch of the company’s TVs. The story says both Canadian telcos have been testing the product in their labs. As you might imagine, none of the companies involved are commenting.
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