After Tim Cook interview, prepare for lots of weaksauce Apple Television rumors

Ever since Apple chief exec Tim Cook publicly mentioned that the company’s television product efforts are no longer a pet project, everything old is new again when it comes to rumors.

And the latest old/new rumor indicates that the company has taken another baby step by testing the product outside its offices.

Apple typically tests its new products in-house, but now the company is conducting some tests for a large-screen television through an outside manufacturer, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter. The manufacturer is supposedly Hon Hai (aka Foxconn), which is working with TV maker Sharp to test large-screen LCD panels for what could be an Apple television set.

But before you start adding it to your Christmas list, one of the WSJ sources was quoted as saying  the Apple television “isn’t a formal project yet. It is still in the early stage of testing.”

The report is great and all, but it doesn’t really contain anything we haven’t heard before. First of all, Sharp and Hon Hai have a joint venture in producing LCD screens, so both the partnership and Foxconn readying its factories for LCD production isn’t new information. Also, we first heard rumors that Apple was in talks with Sharp on 32- and 37-inch screens that could be used for an Apple-branded TV set nearly a year ago.

So, essentially, we don’t know anything new about the Apple television set — except that the company might possibly, kinda be further along in getting it produced. Maybe.