Report: Foxconn Chief Says His Company Is Preparing for 'Apple iTV'

In a press conference in Shanghai on Friday, Foxconn chief Terry Gou reportedly made some revealing -- yet puzzling -- comments about Apple's rumored big-screen television set.

According to a report in the China Daily, Gou said Foxconn is making preparations for the iTV, but manufacturing and development has not yet started. The China Daily report also said that the television set would include Siri and FaceTime, and feature an aluminum construction.

Foxconn recently made a deal with Sharp in preparation for the upcoming product, Gou said. (Reading between the lines, Sharp makes displays for big-screen TVs, a point that lends further credence to Apple television set rumors.)

It's important to note that the China Daily report mentions Gou's iTV statement in a scant three sentences. The English-language newspaper based in Beijing didn't report Gou's words in a direct quote (let alone in Chinese), and it's possible that whatever Gou said was lost in translation. Indeed, for Foxconn's principal officer to leak a confirmation of Apple's rumored TV would be an egregious gaffe.

Here's exactly what the China Daily reported:

Gou said Foxconn is making preparations for iTV, Apple Inc's rumored upcoming high-definition television, although development or manufacturing has yet to begin. iTV reportedly features an aluminum construction, Siri, and FaceTime video calling. Foxconn's recent 50-50 joint venture factory with Sharp in Japan is one of the preparations made for the new device, Gou added.

So why would the chief of a primary Apple business partner publicly out a yet-to-be-announced Apple product? It seems like an unlikely slip of the tongue. Our guess is that Foxconn is merely prepping for a possible, potential future product, and is speculating and getting ready for its release -- just like the rest of us.

Reports of an upcoming Apple television set have been surfacing for months now, but some analysts doubt whether Apple will actually ever release the product into the wild. Nonetheless, by some accounts, Apple's gone so far as to reach out to component suppliers to source parts for the set.

Earlier this week a source at Cult of Mac said that Apple's TV does in fact exist as a prototype. The anonymous source said Apple's HDTV looks very much like an Apple LED-backlit Cinema Display, but "much bigger," with Siri for voice control and an iSight camera for FaceTiming (two features that today's report echoed).

Our heavy dose of skepticism aside, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Gou's announcement could have been some sort of sloppy gaffe. He's already a notorious public figure in China, as the Taiwanese animation below shows, so any confirmed gaffe will just add to his infamy.

via Apple Insider