Tim Cook hints that an Apple television will change the living room

In the most showy hint yet that Apple is building a television set, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a new interview that the TV set was a relic from the past and that his company is intensely interested in changing that.

“When I go into my living room and turn on the TV, I feel like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years,” Cook said during an interview on Rock Center with Brian Williams. “It’s an area of intense interest. I can’t say more than that.”

Apple analysts have been speculating for years that Apple would release its own TV set, but it has not been released or announced. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster has been particularly bullish on the coming device, predicting Apple will debut its branded television sets in November 2013. He predicted that two versions of the Apple television will come at that time — a 47-inch set and a 55-inch model that should cost between $1,500 to $2,000.

Steve Jobs also talked about an Apple television set in his official biography by Walter Isaacson. “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,” Jobs said. “It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. … It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

During the same interview with Rock Center, Cook also announced that Apple will spend more than $100 million to bring some Mac production back to the United States in 2013.

Tim Cook photo: VentureBeat