The boss of long time Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn, Terry Gou is disowning suggestions that he deliberately leaked news of an Apple TV.
Last week several sources credited Gou with confirming the existence of an Apple-branded TV. The executive was misquoted, Foxconn now says, and the company can neither confirm nor speculate about any such hardware.
Gou, said at a speech in Asia last week that Foxconn was making preparations for an impending Apple TV.
Overnight the CEO of German TV brand Loewe has come out and said that his Company is not currently in discussions with Apple to buy the premium TV Company.
Shortly after the speech the China Daily, reported Gou’s comments.
Foxconn now claims that Gou “made it very clear that the would neither confirm nor speculate about Foxconn’s involvement in the production of any product,” and that at no time did Gou “confirm that Foxconn was in development or manufacturing stages” for an Apple TV. Gou’s statements, Foxconn maintains, are more an affirmation of Foxconn’s readiness to meet the manufacturing needs of customers; not so much that the company is preparing to make an Apple TV, but that it is prepared to make one, should Apple approach.
The main shareholders in the German TV Company Loewe is Sharp with a 28.83% shareholding.
Recently Apple commenced a commercial relationship with the struggling Sharp group to make display panels for their iPad and Mac PC’s. The maker of Japan’s first commercial TVs, Sharp recently cemented a relationship with Foxconn Technology Group who make the bulk of Apple products in China.
Foxconn founder Terry Gou recently invested $1.6 billion in Sharp in an effort to help them turn around a business heading for a multi billion dollar loss it’s worse in more than a century.