Apple 'testing designs for a television

Apple has been testing designs for a large screen, high definition television, according to a new report.

Apple is still in the early stages of testing a television, sources at the company's suppliers told the Wall Street Journal. The paper says the company has been testing TV prototypes for "a number of years".

Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, told Bloomberg last week that television was an area of "intense interest" for Apple. He said: “When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years."

The Journal reports: "Apple could opt not to proceed with the device and how a large-screen TV fits with its overall strategy for remaking watching TV remains unclear."

So far, Apple's only experiment with a TV product has been the Apple TV set-top box, which was first released in 2007. An update in 2010 removed the hard drive that had been a feature of the original version and refocused the box on streaming from the iTunes Store.

Apple has consistently described the Apple TV as "a hobby". Despite that, rumours have been circulating for years that Apple would eventually release a television set.

Those rumours increased significantly a year ago following the publication of Walter Isaacson's biography of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Jobs, who died in October last year, told his biographer that he had "cracked" the problem of television.

Isaacson did not elaborate on the remark, which led to speculation about what exactly Jobs meant. Everything from a full-size, stand-alone television set to an iPhone-based remote control was floated as a possible plan.

Earlier this year the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was in talks with cable companies in the US about how an Apple television service might work.

Last year, 'industry sources' were quoted as saying that Apple would launch 32-inch and 37-inch television sets in 2012