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Best Buy Explains Its Leaked Apple HDTV Survey

The current Apple TV is a set-top box, so pundits are using the term iTV to denote a speculated Apple-branded HDTV. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
News and rumors suggest an Apple-branded HDTV is somewhere on the horizon, but it’s hard to differentiate hard evidence from hype.
A digital survey put out by Best Buy and leaked to The Verge this weekend asked customers to rate their interest in a $1,499, 42-inch, iOS-laden Apple HDTV. The survey listed a series of intriguing features: a 1080p LED display, iPad/iPhone remote control, and access to the App Store and the cloud, among other alluring specs.
OK, Apple rumors are one thing. In fact, they’re Digitimes‘ stock and trade. But since when has Best Buy, the nation’s most well-known electronics retailer, become a player in the Apple rumors game?
We asked, and Best Buy answered: “The customer survey was a routine offer effectiveness survey conducted by one of Best Buy’s research partners. Any brand reference was hypothetical. The survey is no longer available,” Best Buy told us in a statement.
Leaks are common. Some are planned, most are accidental. But the Best Buy survey could be just another example of a company that didn’t forsee how its actions might be perceived.
“I doubt that this is something that is an intentional hype,” said Sarah Rotman-Epps, a senior analyst with Forrester Research. More likely, Rotman-Epps said, Best Buy is trying to gauge consumer interest so that it can have a better idea how many units to order — if and when an iTV comes along.
Although speculation fueled by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster recently had Apple contacting TV component makers in anticipation of an iTV launch, opinions vary greatly as to whether an Apple TV would actually hit the market this year. Best Buy’s comments indicate it is just thinking ahead to a hypothetical release.
“Apple is notoriously private about its product releases, and careful about its interaction with partners, like Best Buy,” said Rotman-Epps.
Best Buy's leaked survey. Image: The Verge