• by Ross Fadner , May 15, 2012

Last Friday, China Dailyreported that Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn -- which makes Apple’s iPad, iPhone and other consumer electronics devices from various companies -- said it would begin working on “iTV, Apple Inc’s rumored upcoming high-definition television.” The story claimed that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou had said the company was preparing to build the TV, but that “development or manufacturing has yet to begin.”

On Monday, Foxconn refuted these claims. "At no time did (Gou) confirm that Foxconn was in development or manufacturing stages for any product for any of its customers. He did say that Foxconn is always prepared to meet the manufacturing needs of customers should they determine that they wish to work with Foxconn in the production of any of their products," the company said in a prepared statement.

For years, analysts and industry watchers have said that Apple is planning to launch a smart television. In his biography, Steve Jobs tells Walter Isaacson, his biographer: “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly linked with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.” Apple, meanwhile, has refused to comment on speculation that it is working on a smart TV.