Ignition, New York: Will Apple TV replace channels and guides with apps?

Expect Apple TV to launch in a big way late in 2012, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, speaking at the Ignition conference in New York today.

Munster pointed towards the recent appointment of Bob Iger (Disney CEO) to the Apple board; potential innovations around gesture control; and iOS developments, robustness and customer loyalty as significant factors which would all be part of a major move into the TV market.

Steve Jobs’ vision, outlined in his biography, was for a TV set with the simplest user experience and requiring no remote. Munster could see this bringing gaming, DVD, Internet and DVR together in one box.

“Apple is not in the living room yet…it’s also Sony’s last opportunity to get relevant, but we expect them to get blocked out of that”, said Munster.

“We expect a lot of it (Apple TV) could be app driven. Instead of using a remote or a channel you might call up the ESPN app or the Monday night football app.”

On other Apple developments Munster says, “our research had iPad ‘Black Friday’ sales at 66% up on a year ago and saw massive growth for Apple in India, Brazil and Russia – without price discounting. Apple has only 1% of its stores in China now but growth there is 239% and the model works for these other major markets too – lead with the iPhone, add retail and promote iTunes.”