It might spell the end of fiddling around for remote controls in between the sofa cushions.
The upcoming big Apple TV will use iPhone's Siri 'personal assistant' as its main control method - and will use touch control as a back up.
Leaks from Apple's manufacturing chain say that Apple has been working on prototype sets since September - according to a design blueprint laid down by late CEO Steve Jobs. His 'eureka' moment was realising that Siri's voice control could be used to 'talk' to the set.
The quote 'I finally cracked it,' in the recent biography by Walter Isaacson was misquoted in recent reports, reports the New York Times.
Jobs was referring to the realisation that the television should be voice-controlled - using the natural-language algorithms of Siri so that people talk to the set as they would to someone sitting next to them on the sofa.
Mr Jobs, who died earlier this month, told author Walter Isaacson: 'It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine.'
Apple executive Jeff Robbin, who was behind the iPod and iTunes Store, is reportedly 'now guiding Apple's internal development of the new TV effort'.
It's not the first attempt to bring more 'natural' controls to televisions - companies such as One For All already make gesture-controlled remotes which you simply 'wag' at the screen, and Microsoft's Xbox Kinect camera can be controlled by voice.
But the highly sophisticated Siri software could represent a huge leap forward for the technology.
A third party analysis suggests the device will hit shelves by late next year or 2013, based on research of Apple's patent portfolio, its investments in manufacturing facilities and 'securing supplies of LCD screens'.
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
It has been widely-speculated Apple will launch its own brand of touchscreen televisions running its iOS platform.
(Read by Emily Cheng. Emily Cheng is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
(Agencies)
亂翻沙發墊找遙控器的時代就要終結了。
未來的蘋果電視將應用iPhone的Siri語音個人助理作為主要的遙控方式，並以觸摸式遙控器作支持。
據蘋果公司生產廠商透露，自九月份開始，蘋果公司就一直在根據已故的前CEO史蒂夫•賈伯斯提出的設想研發原型機。賈伯斯的突破性發現正在成為現實，人們將能夠使用Siri語音控制和電視「對話」。
但根據《紐約時報》的報導，沃爾特•伊薩克森撰寫的《賈伯斯傳》中，引述的賈伯斯所說的「我找到了」這句話被媒體曲解了。
賈伯斯指的是他發現了電視可以使用Siri的自然語言系統進行聲控，這樣人們就可以像跟坐在旁邊的人說話一樣和電視「對話」了。
賈伯斯於十月初去世。他在生前告訴沃爾特•伊薩克森：「蘋果電視的用戶界面是你所能想像的最簡潔的。」
據報導，蘋果公司主管傑夫•羅賓「目前負責蘋果公司電視產品的研發」。他曾主導研發iPod 和iTunes產品。
這不是首次嘗試研發更「自然」的電視遙控器，One For All公司已經推出「手勢遙控器」，只要在屏幕前「搖擺」，就能實現操控。微軟公司的Xbox Kinect相機也可以實現聲控。
但高度複雜的Siri軟體將使這項技術實現躍進。
一份第三方分析表明，根據對蘋果公司專利組合、對製造設備的投資、以及「LCD屏幕的可靠供應」的研究，蘋果電視將於明年末或2013年上市。
蘋果公司女發言人特魯迪•穆勒拒絕回應彭博社的這篇報導。
多數猜測認為，蘋果公司將推出基於iSO平臺的自主品牌觸屏電視。
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（中國日報網英語點津 Julie 編輯：Helen）