Wednesday’s Apple Rumors — High-Def Jam

Here are your Apple rumors and news items:

HD Talk Heats Up: Analyst Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities has refueled the rumor fire suggesting that Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will introduce its own line of all-in-one high-definition televisions this year. White said in a Wednesday note to investors that “data points” gathered at an electronics trade show in China suggest that Apple will release an Internet-connected television to finally bring its Apple TV business to full power. Other analysts have already predicted that Apple will release what White calls a “Smart TV” in 2011. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster issued a note to investors in February suggesting that Apple’s secret $3.9 billion investment in liquid crystal display components signaled the development of a line of Apple high-def TVs up to 50 inches in size. Given Apple’s success in wooing customers into buying high-priced but attractive items, the company might find success with an Internet television where companies like Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Sony (NYSE:SNE) have failed.

Final Cut Pro X Coming: Apple previewed the latest version of its popular video-editing software Final Cut at the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas on Tuesday. The 64-bit upgrade to the popular suite of tools, will come out on the Mac App Store in June and cost $299. In addition to small but significant new features, like the ability to edit video while importing it, and tweaks to how clips are labeled and catalogued in the interface,�Final Cut Pro’s most significant change is that it is completely
rebuilt, as opposed to being based on the�code of previous versions. The new software should help Apple keep its competitive edge in competing with other software companies looking to curry favor with professional video editors.

iPad 2, It’s Popular: In addition to his prediction that Apple sold 17 million iPhones and 7 million iPads over the first three months of 2011, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mike Abramsky noted two interesting trends affecting sales of the iPad 2. Abramsky found in a customer survey that demand for the iPad 2 is 40% greater than demand for the first iPad, when compared with a survey conducted last May. About 28% of those respondents are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to purchase an iPad 2. The survey also determined that customers prefer Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) service when purchasing the 3G iPad 2, with 46% of respondents saying they would use the network, compared to just 30% planning on using AT&T (NYSE:T).

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at�@ajohnagnello�and�become a fan of�InvestorPlace on Facebook.