iTunes Creator Working on TV for Apple

Apple seems to be pulling out the stops when it comes to making Steve Jobs’ vision of an Apple-worthy iTV a reality. Top software engineer Jeff Robbin—the guy who built iTunes and helped create the iPod—has been tapped to lead development on the TV, which could be available as early as next year, sources tell Bloomberg. Jobs considered Robbin so valuable that he at one point refused to mention him to the media, lest another company poach him.

Earlier this month, Jobs told his biographer that he’d “finally cracked” how to build a TV that would integrate all a customer’s media, while boasting “the simplest user interface you could imagine.” One goal for the project: to have a search function that could scan all your media streams, like cable and Netflix, simultaneously, but content producers are so far not cooperating. It's also worth noting that this isn't the first report of an imminent iTV. (More Apple TV stories.)