Worry About an Apple Television? Don’t Make Samsung Laugh.
That seems to be the standard TV industry response to rumors of an Apple HDTV. Back in December, Sharp’s Kozo Takahashi dismissed the potential threat Apple might pose to the TV market, saying consumers are far more focused on price, picture quality and size than on any advanced technology and design innovation Cupertino might bring to bear on its rumored television.
Today, it’s Samsung’s AV product manager Chris Moseley who doesn’t think Apple has the R&D chops to field a formidable TV.
“We’ve not seen what they’ve done, but what we can say is that they don’t have 10,000 people in R&D in the vision category,” Moseley told Pocket Lint. “They don’t have the best scaling engine in the world and they don’t have world renowned picture quality that has been awarded more than anyone else. … There is no way that anyone, new or old, can come along this year or next year and beat us on picture quality.”
Perhaps. Samsung’s clearly got a lot of expertise in display picture quality. But presumably Apple’s got some applicable experience here, too, thanks to its own desktop display offerings and the Retina display. And as Brian Ford notes, it’s rarely wise to bet against Apple, even if you are an incumbent. Just ask former Palm CEO Ed Colligan, who famously dismissed Apple’s chances in the smartphone market back in 2006:
“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone,” Colligan said at the time. “PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
Of course, that’s exactly what happened. And Colligan’s career at Palm didn’t even last long enough for him to eat those words.
