Sharp Selling Too Many Big-Ass TVs to Worry About Apple Television

Sharp isn’t paying much heed to rumors that Apple is developing an HDTV. Nor does it have much reason to, says Kozo Takahashi, head of the company’s operations in North and South America.

“Currently it’s not something we’re studying very hard,” Takahashi said during a press conference in Osaka, though he conceded that whatever TV Apple has in the pipeline — if indeed there is one — could certainly “catch the market by surprise.”

But for the time being, Sharp’s not going to spend any time worrying about it. According to Takahashi, TV buyers in the United States right now are far more focused on price, picture quality and size than any advanced technology Apple might bring to bear on its rumored television.

And right now, Sharp is killing it in the big TV market.

Earlier this year, the company said it expected to sell at least one million TVs 60-inches or larger in the U.S. and Canada in the current fiscal year. Now it expects to hit that target in the U.S. alone. Said Takahashi, “I didn’t think sales would turn out to be this strong.”