I found the recent rumors of an Apple Internet-enabled TV quite interesting.
Our own Larry Dignan and Sam Diaz have been covering a Piper Jaffray report about a potential revamp of Apple's dormant Apple TV product and even an Apple-branded television set. Some possible scenarios include:
Hollywood is definitely paying attention and has a vested interest in bringing the Internet coming to its platform, the television, as opposed to sending its content (film, television) the other direction -- to the Internet.
An article in Variety documents the growth of Internet-enabled TVs:
Panasonic and LG models are available now. Vizio will introduce some in the fourth quarter. Toshiba, Sony and Philips are hot on their trail, with still more expected early next year. Current models require a direct Ethernet connection, though Vizio says it will offer TVs with WiFi by the end of the year.
Web-enabled TVs on the market:
Coming soon:
So while it's plausible that Apple could be mulling a full-scale TV product it isn't likely. Apple's paid almost no attention to its withering monitor line which indicates that the company isn't that interested in the flat-panel display market -- unless it has a Mac inside, like the iMac does.