According to a passage from Yukari Kane's upcoming book Haunted
Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs, in 2010, Steve Jobs told Apple
executives that the company would not be releasing a television.
Business Insider relays the exchange which occurred at Apple's 2010 'Top
100' retreat for Apple executive, managers and employees. 
The attendees of the Top 100 retreat would hear presentations of
Apple's business and often be exposed to new Apple products. The
contents of the meeting are supposed to remain secret. The last day of
the meeting, Jobs offered to answer any questions, and someone asked if
Apple was going to release a television next.Yukari says 'Jobs didn't
hesitate.' He said, 'No.' 'TV is a terrible business. They don't turn
over and the margins suck,' said Jobs. (Unlike iPhones which are wildly
profitable and replaced every two years, a TV gets replaced every 8
years, and isn't all that profitable.)Jobs reportedly went on to say
that he did want to control the living room, but that the current Apple
TV set-top-box would remain a hobby until Apple was able to get the the
content it needed. There was apparently some disagreement amongst
attendees if Jobs was sincere in his comments. Back in 2003, Jobs had
told reporters that he didn't feel that Apple could add much value to
mobile phones. The iPhone was announced four years later. Meanwhile,
it's been three years since this statement, and other reports, including
Steve Jobs' biography attributes comments from Jobs that he had
'finally cracked' the difficulties in building an Apple television set.
Meanwhile, Tim Cook also has made comments more recently that TV remains
an 'intense interest' for Apple, though that may refer to enhancing the
Apple TV set-top-box experience than releasing a full-scale television.
The attendees of the Top 100 retreat would hear presentations of
Apple's business and often be exposed to new Apple products. The
contents of the meeting are supposed to remain secret. The last day of
the meeting, Jobs offered to answer any questions, and someone asked if
Apple was going to release a television next.Yukari says 'Jobs didn't
hesitate.' He said, 'No.' 'TV is a terrible business. They don't turn
over and the margins suck,' said Jobs. (Unlike iPhones which are wildly
profitable and replaced every two years, a TV gets replaced every 8
years, and isn't all that profitable.)Jobs reportedly went on to say
that he did want to control the living room, but that the current Apple
TV set-top-box would remain a hobby until Apple was able to get the the
content it needed. There was apparently some disagreement amongst
attendees if Jobs was sincere in his comments. Back in 2003, Jobs had
told reporters that he didn't feel that Apple could add much value to
mobile phones. The iPhone was announced four years later. Meanwhile,
it's been three years since this statement, and other reports, including
Steve Jobs' biography attributes comments from Jobs that he had
'finally cracked' the difficulties in building an Apple television set.
Meanwhile, Tim Cook also has made comments more recently that TV remains
an 'intense interest' for Apple, though that may refer to enhancing the
Apple TV set-top-box experience than releasing a full-scale television.
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