Steve Jobs reportedly tapped iTunes creator to help "crack" the smart TV

Apple has insisted on calling its Apple TV set-top box a "hobby," even though the most recent version appears to be selling well. But Steve Jobs said shortly before his death that he had "finally cracked" a way to make TVs as simple and elegant as the iPhone or iPad. And the talent he trusted to see that task through is reportedly none other than Jeff Robbin, the same software engineer Apple brought on in 2000 to build iTunes.

Jobs told author Walter Issacson during an interview for his recently released biography that he wanted to make using a TV as simple as he had made using a smartphone or music player. “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,” he told Issacson. “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,” Jobs said.

Rumors have been circulating for years that Apple would ditch its separate set-top box strategy and instead build an integrated TV set with Apple TV functionality built right in. Those rumors, however, were largely circulated by analysts and weren't considered serious by most observers. Now, though, it appears that Jobs may have admitted to working on such a project after all.

That admission seems further supported by a report from Bloomberg published Monday that the man leading the project at Apple is software engineer Jeff Robbin. Robbin developed the SoundJam MP MP3 jukebox software, which Apple bought in 2000 to form the basis of iTunes. Robbin was hired to transform his SoundJam code into the media syncing and playback juggernaut we know and love/hate today. Robbin was also involved in the development of the iPod as well as the iTunes Store, so it makes sense that he would be tapped to create a new interface to change TV as we know it.

Exactly which puzzle Jobs and Apple may have "cracked" isn't clear yet, but we believe it could be connected to the long-rumored TV subscription service that Apple is believed to have been working on since late 2009. iTunes TV content has always been pay-to-play, costing a few bucks per episode, though you could get a discount by ordering a whole season of a particular show at once. Apple looked to be trying to work out a deal with major networks to offer a subscription service—much cheaper than the typical cable bill—that would allow Apple TV users to stream whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CBS and Disney were giving the plan serious consideration, but no deal had been struck at the time. Unfortunately, incumbent cable companies have likely done everything in their power to keep such a deal from happening.

A source speaking to Bloomberg claimed that Apple's solution may also involve tapping in to multiple services. Instead of checking Netflix, a cable service, Hulu, or iTunes, users would simply search for the show they wanted and the device would access the content from the most convenient source.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster insists that Apple already has prototype models in the works, according to his sources within Apple's supply chain. He told investors in a research note this week that Apple could introduce a TV set by next year, or perhaps as late as 2013. He also suggested that such a device would include Siri to track down 

shows to watch and iCloud support to access a variety of media without the need for local storage. +++arstechnica

Posted in: IT