We continue to view Apple TV hardware as a 2013 event. The timing of Hon Hai/Foxconn's equity stake and partnership with Sharp along with Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou's separate 46.5% investment in Sharp's Sakai City plant lends further credibility that Apple TV is in the works.
Asia’s longest-running independent brokerage and investment group CLSA argues that it will come later, rather than sooner -- which has been the conventional wisdom.
In August 2011 Reuters Tokyo reported that Apple may invest around 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) to upgrade a Sharp LCD plant. It is rumored that Sharp will be providing the panels for Apple's television.
CLSA considers the deals as "an effort to improve Sharp's financial position before becoming a more meaningful supplier to Apple." CLSA also claims that Foxconn parent Hon Hai's decision to invest in Sharp lends credence to rumors that an Apple-branded television is coming.
Tip: SeekingAlpha.com (via: BusinessInsider.com) Illustration: Ellis Hamburger