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Apple’s TV project, as revealed in the biography of the late Steve Jobs, will reportedly be lead by the iTunes software development chief Jeff Robbin.
A Bloomberg report, citing ‘three people with knowledge of the project, said that the iTunes architect is guiding the interactive television project which is anticipated to offer a large screen portal into content on other Apple devices.
Jobs expressed satisfaction with the project in an interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, saying he had "finally cracked" an interactive television with a simple user interface.
Arch-rival Google has been trying something similar via Google TV but that service faced criticism for being too difficult to use and hardware partner Logitech famously sold precious few of the Google TV-powered Revue.
"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine," Jobs is quoted as saying in the Biography released yesterday.
It seems difficult to credit such a simple user interface as being guided by the same engineers responsible for the arcane and often frustrating iTunes application.
It seems Apple is set to sell an Apple-branded device directly with a prototype in the works, according to Reuters’ sources. The firm was also cited as moving to invest in LCD screen manufacturing facilities.
The biography also revealed that Steve Jobs was persuaded by iTunes architect Jeff Robbin to allow the development of a PC version of iTunes to expand the user base.
