Things Apple could do next BESIDES make a TV (that are also amazingly valuable areas to open up)
1. Make car stuff. Gear for the dashboard of your car.
2. Make wearable stuff, like a watch.
3. The fabled kitchen computer. Remember when Palm tried it (and even Apple once did). Though perhaps feminism has progressed a bit and people figure ladies have iPhones.
4. An audio-first device that extends your other phones/tablets/PCs. For example, upgrade the Airport device to take voice command and do stuff (e.g., stop playing music, start a particular movie, do app stuff like send emails, or even control household automation?)
5. Smart accessories like speakers, earpieces, third screens that extend the core computing gear
6. Card for swiping to pay for things
7. Alarm clock? I guess it’s been done via docks.
8. How about an entertainment/game console. Apple TV is kind of this. But how about a gaming-centric console. That would totally disappoint all the “make a TV” crowd and potentially make big inroads a la Playstation and Xbox.
Bonus. Make a smart coffee table.
Extra bonus. Make a ‘second screen’ for the living room. Think Bloomberg Terminal. Second panel, not for the main content.