The long-rumoured Apple TV project is indeed a reality, according to a number of reports that emerged this week. The Apple television set project is reportedly headed by Jeff Robbin, a lead creator of the iTunes, and currently the company is making prototypes of its TV-set with one of the contract manufacturers in Asia.

The Apple TV project has been discussed by market observers for several years already, but Apple traditionally remained tight-lipped about it. Nonetheless, Apple's former chief executive officer Steve Jobs confirmed his biographer Walter Isaacson that the work on TV was underway as well as that the Apple TV would have a simple user interface and would wirelessly synchronize content across all Apple devices.

"It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine,” said Mr. Jobs in his biography.

Apparently, Apple already has a prototype TV in the works and may introduce a product for sale by late next year or 2013, according to Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, reports Bloomberg news-agency. According to the analyst, Apple is investing in manufacturing facilities and securing supplies of LCD screens of up to 50".

One of the main features of Apple's television set is projected to be an ability to quickly search for content from numerous sources, including Apple's own iTunes. Given the fact that the user experience should be integrated, this feature alone presents a number of challenges. In order to provide unique capabilities and simplicity, Apple TV will likely integrate iCloud as Siri along with motion sensing support for content sharing and control purposes.

It remains to be seen whether the Apple TV device will also support high-definition gaming as presently Apple's ecosystem clearly has a weak spot due to absence of high-quality games on Macs and lack of a game console in Apple's lineup. Nowadays Microsoft has the strongest video game eco-system possible with Games for Windows as well as Xbox.

Although Apple currently sells Apple TV set-top-box, to enable customers to watch iTunes content on their HDTVs, the device is not popular. As a result, the actual Apple television set will have to offer a lot more that the STB does today to be successful.

Tags: Apple, Apple TV, iOS, Mac, HDTV