上周二，投资公司Jefferies的分析师彼得•米瑟克就其最近的日本之旅发布了一篇报告，科技博客AllThingsD的约翰•帕克兹沃斯基从中发掘出了最具有新闻价值的信息。

    次日，十多位写手纷纷跟进，附和帕克兹沃斯基报道【《苹果电视可能将于2012年2月进行商业化生产》（Apple Television Could Be Ready for Commercial Production by Feb. 2012）】，但他们的依据仅仅这篇报道的要点。

    然而，除了暗示苹果（Apple）可能在2012年年中推出电视机外，米瑟克的完整报告中还有很多信息。事实上，关于苹果电视的三句话是该报告中最含糊不清、猜测性质最强的内容。实际的报告如下：

    关于iTV，我们认为苹果将获取日本堺市的Gen 10工厂以生产升级版非晶态TFT液晶屏。我们还认为重组生产线的行动已经开始或者即将开始，因为将于明年2月开始商业化生产。所以，iTV最早将于2012年中期发布，这和我们关于iTV的其它推测相符。

    鉴于业界一直在热议苹果品牌电视的传闻，而且史蒂夫•乔布斯16个月前还亲自回答称“唯一的问题是走向市场”。我不敢十分肯定iTV将在2012年年中发布。

    那么，皮特•米塞克在日本到底打探到了哪些信息？米塞克称，最重要的收获是苹果已经投入巨资——高达10亿美元——至一家新的供应商【非常遗憾，不是三星（Samsung）】，以及一项新的显示屏技术以生产下一代iPad、iPhone。苹果将带来分辨率更高、续航时间更长，同时价格更低廉的显示屏，令其余竞争对手望尘莫及。具体信息本文引用如下：

    • 根据观察，我们认为苹果已将显示屏部分产能转移至夏普（Sharp），后者已成为苹果主要的面板供应商。我们还认为苹果已取得龟山Gen 6工厂的独家使用权，它将利用苹果购买的价值5亿至10亿美元的设备生产iPad 3和iPhone 5 LTE显示屏。

    • 我们认为两周前，iPad 3显示屏的制造工作已经开始，而它正是最近苹果供应链中诸多传闻的源头所在。

    • 我们认为苹果和夏普已合作研发出一种新型IGZO技术（加入了铟、镓、锌等金属）。利用该技术，显示屏分辨率将能达到330dpi（每平方英寸像素），足以满足高清晰显示屏的要求。它能替代目前的IPS硬屏（目前在iPhone 4、4S上使用的硬性液晶屏——译注），也无需再加配双LED背景灯。这项技术将带来很多优势：显示屏更加轻薄、续航时间将得到延长、用户的综合体验相应也有显著提高。

    Credit AllThingsD's John Paczkowski for finding the most headline-worthy nugget in the report issued Tuesday by Jefferies analyst Peter Misek on his recent trip to Japan.

    The thrust of Paczkowski's story -- Apple Television Could Be Ready for Commercial Production by Feb. 2012 -- was echoed Wednesday by more than a dozen writers who had only his brief item to rely on.

    But there's a lot more to Misek's full report that the suggestion that Apple (AAPL) could selling television sets by mid-2012. In fact, those three sentences are the note's vaguest and most speculative. The actual text:

    For iTV we believe that Apple will take a line at the Gen 10 Sakai facility and produce a modified version of the Amorphous TFT. We believe retooling of the line has begun or is about to begin at the facility with February as a preliminary time frame for commercial production. This would put an iTV launch as early as the middle of 2012, which aligns with our other iTV checks. [emphasis ours]

    Given how long rumors of an Apple-branded TV set have been floating around and the "fundamental go-to-market" problems Steve Jobs put his finger on 16 months ago, I wouldn't bet the farm on a mid-2012 launch.

    So what did Peter Misek learn in Japan? The "key takeaway," as he calls it, is that Apple has sunk a lot of money -- as much as a billion dollars -- into a new supplier (most pointedly, not Samsung) and new screen technologies to build the next generation of iPads and iPhones with resolutions, battery life and prices its competitors will be hard-pressed to match. I quote:

    • We believe Apple has shifted display production and that Sharp has now become a large panel supplier, based on our checks. We believe that the Gen 6 Kameyama facility has been exclusively taken over for Apple purposes with Apple purchasing $500M to $1B of equipment for the manufacturing of iPad 3 and iPhone 5 LTE displays.

    • We believe production of iPad 3 displays began two weeks ago and is the cause of much of the noise in the supply chain.

    • We believe that Apple and Sharp together have a modified IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) technology to achieve 330 dpi, which is sufficient for an HD display while not using IPS nor having to include dual-bar LED backlighting. In our view, this should lead to several design advantages, namely the device can be thinner, battery life should be longer, and the overall experience for users should be meaningfully improved.