Apple TV Delayed ‘A Few Weeks’

The Apple TV set-top box won't be available in February as promised; instead, Apple is taking "a few weeks" to wrap things up.

Apple was to have unleashed it’s Apple TV Wi-Fi enabled set top video system to consumers by the end of February, but now apparently plans to hit the market sometime in March. In a statement distributed via email, Apple spokesperson Lynn Fox wrote, "Wrapping up Apple TV is taking a few weeks longer than we projected, and we now expect to begin shipments in mid-March."

Apple actually showed the Apple TV (then dubbed the iTV) way back in September of last year, making the five-plus months between announcement and shipping an out-of-character move for the famously secretive Cupertino company. (But then again, it unveiled the iPhone a full six months before it’s due to ship. Maybe they’ve turned a new leaf.)

The Apple TV is designed to "bring iTunes to the big screen," enabling users to bridge digital video and music between users’s computers and iPods and their living room entertainment centers. The Apple TV connects to user’s television via HDMI or component video, offers built-in Wi-Fi connectivity to sync to an iTunes library from any Macintosh or PC in the house (or, heck, your neighbor’s house too, if you’re not careful!), and features automatic syncing so that if you download new video from Apple’s iTunes Music Store, the Apple TV stays synchronized and ready to catch you up on your favorite shows with no fuss. Users can also put their iTunes music library on their home entertainment centers, browse digital photos stored in iPhoto or PC-based photo management programs in high definition.

The Apple TV will be priced at $299.