Apple's iTV project has reached mythical status. But the oft talked-about set has still not been released. What's the deal? Is it actually a real project or has the Cupertino, Calif.-based company been blowing smoke all these years? Industry insiders seem to think the TV is a real product and that it will be released sometime next year.

While the iTV has been in and out of the news over the years, news of its development reached a fever pitch in November 2011. That's when the late Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson arrived in booksellers nationwide. Isaacson managed to get Jobs to open up about the project in some detail.

Jobs said that he'd "... like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use." He went on to sat that, "It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud." No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. "It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."

But those statements went made nearly two-and-a-half years ago. Since that time, it seems that whenever a new Apple product comes about (like the iPad Mini or the iPhone 5c) people feel let down that there isn't another revolutionary product a la iTV available to them.

Any hope for a TV this year is likely going to add to iFans' frustration. With Apple gearing up for its complex third quarter rollout it looks like another year will come to pass without an Apple branded TV set. Among the products thought to be announced in quarter three contain two iPhone 6 models and iWatch, as well as an annual Mac refresh.

Also, according to the Korean Herald "around 2 million Apple iTVs with 65 and 77-inch liquid crystal displays were expected to hit the market in the second half of this year. However, Apple employees visited this local company in October 2013 to delay the plans to next year."

The hold-up may very well have to deal with obtaining content rights. The iTV will effectively replace the traditional cable and broadcast TV viewing experience. Understandably, cable bigwigs like Comcast and content providers such as HBO are making life difficult for Apple. They'll likely want a larger share of any revenue the iTV would generate.

But enough of the legal wrangling, what kind of feature-set will the iTV pack? Well, it's expected that it will be a Full HD set. That's right -- Apple will forgo the 4K TV market for at least for the time being. While that's a bummer Apple is making the right call when it comes to its choice of panels. The iTV will reportedly use cutting edge OLED technology.

The TVs will come in two sizes, a big 65-inch model and an even more mammoth 77-inch flagship. Siri voice control will be used to control every aspect of the TV set. Digital Trends cautions that previous pricing figures, that is in the 1,500 to 2,500 dollar range, may be too optimistic.

Whenever the iTV arrives, fans will be waiting. Will you be one of them? Let us know in the comments section below.