Could Apple's long-awaited iTV be on store shelves this Christmas? Early versions are already being tested in China - etechspace

Apple is believed to have begun test production of an ‘iTV’ that could be unveiled before Christmas.

China Business News reports that Foxconn’s Shenzhen factory has received the first order for the product and is producing the initial models on a ‘trial basis’.

The TV is rumoured to have voice control, and was one of the last major projects Steve Jobs worked on before he died.

China Business News reports that Foxconn¿s Shenzhen factory has received the first order for the product and is producing the initial models on a ¿trial basis¿

Sir Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President, Industrial Design, Apple Inc., receives a Knighthood for services to design and enterprise. Westminster, London

In his final days Jobs told his authorized biographer, Walter Isaacson, that one of the many technologies he still wanted to remake was television.

In his book, Isaacson quotes Jobs as saying: 'I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.'

Apple’s British designer Sir Jonathan Ive also recently admitted that the project he is working on now, which is believed by many to be an Apple TV, could be the firm’s most important.

‘What we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done,’ he said.

Sources claim that Foxconn¿s Shenzhen factory has received the first order for the product and is producing the initial models on a ¿trial basis¿

Earlier this month, Foxconn denied that it was building a television for Apple after one local publication had reported that its CEO had confirmed the project.

Banking analyst analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray has predicted that the product will be revealed in December.

He it will go on sale in early 2013, with sizes ranging from 42 inches to 55 inches, and prices between $1,500, going up to $2,000. The firm has predicted that Apple can grab a ten per cent share of the global TV market within three years of the product launching.

Munster also said he believes The iPhone 5 will make its debut in October and will ‘be the biggest consumer product launch this year and drive the biggest device upgrade cycle.’