‘Apple HDTV’ imagined in Best Buy survey: 42-inch model for $1,499
Best Buy appears to be sending surveys to customers getting feedback on potential new products and services — something that virtually every consumer-facing company does on a regular basis — but one thing stood out this time around …
Context & Ripple Effects
This survey lands on top of a running thread of retail-channel signals: TechCrunch reported in November 2011 that changes at Amazon and Best Buy pointed toward a new Apple TV, and the relationship here is explicitly unconfirmed — a customer questionnaire, not an announcement. What makes it travel is the specificity: a 42-inch set at $1,499, a price point that would test whether Apple can charge its usual premium in a category where panels have been commoditizing.
Best Buy is a natural messenger. The retailer has carried Apple hardware prominently since it won an Apple TV exclusive back in 2007, so its surveys carry more weight with the enthusiast press than a generic poll would — which is why eight outlets picked up what is, on its face, routine market research.
First-order effects
- Best Buy gets early demand data on a hypothetical 42-inch Apple HDTV before committing shelf space or marketing to a product Apple has not confirmed exists.
- Apple gets free price-elasticity testing through a partner's survey, with the leak itself serving as a low-cost probe of public appetite for an Apple-branded television.
Second-order effects
- If the survey signals real demand at $1,499, Best Buy strengthens its case to remain the marquee brick-and-mortar launch partner for any Apple television, deepening a retail relationship that dates to 2007.
- A confirmed Apple entry at that price would force incumbent TV makers to defend a segment where their brand premium is weakest, since the set itself is commodity hardware and the differentiation would have to come from software and ecosystem.
Third-order effects
- Retailer surveys and channel checks are becoming a standing part of how unannounced Apple products reach the market — the rumor economy now runs partly on partners' own market research, blurring the line between internal planning and public expectation-setting.
- For consumer electronics generally, the pattern points toward launch cycles where demand is tested and priced through third-party channels before anything is officially announced, shifting risk off manufacturers and onto retailers' research budgets.
The trend: Apple's unannounced products are increasingly telegraphed through retail-partner signals rather than official statements, making channel research a leading indicator of the company's roadmap.