Rumor: Foxconn Has Orders for Apple TVs

Fueled in part by revelations in Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography that Jobs had finally figured out how the TV market, rumors of the long-awaited Apple TV have swirled often. According to China Business News’ confidential sources, the devices are coming soon; Apple TVs will be rolling off of assembly lines at Foxconn, as the company has reportedly received orders for a trial production run.

Although there are smart TVs here and there, access to plenty of Internet-connected content, and promising software such as Google TV in development, the industry is ripe for a TV that serves as a family’s computing and entertainment hub. Apple has certainly created and collected all the right pieces: Siri, display technology, a cloud-based (versus device-based) hub for files and services, a unified ecosystem of operating systems and devices, and an app and content store with a delivery system.

Whether or not Apple is about to revolutionize the TV market remains to be seen, but--like ‘em or hate ‘em--the company has been known to release products that shake up their respective market segments. There’s a good chance this will be one of them.