Re: What could Apple bring to the table?
"What I can do is outline some of the problems with TVs at the moment that need to be solved."
Great. Nothing to do with Apple though, anymore than it is with Microsoft or Hoover or Debenhams or anyone else who doesn't make TVs.
"The main problem is the vast collection of remote controls and their associated buttons that you need to control the TV and all the other stuff attached to it."
LG Smart TVs have a remote with hardly any buttons. Already solved.
"The second big problem is the confusing array of different user interfaces you have to deal with, depending on where you are."
Not sure what you mean?
"Apple would definitely sort that out ... Apple would make that much more consistent."
It's the "They are better than the competition" argument, based on products that *don't even exist*.
No reason to think that Apple would do anything for the second problem you list, since all the applications on their products can have different UIs too. Even for the first, a touchscreen actually allows UIs to have more buttons etc (just that they're in software, rather than physical) - indeed, that's the good thing about them. But they certainly don't reduce the number things to press. My experience is that older less computer-experienced people prefer to stick with phones with a physical keypad, as it's easy and simple, compared with the multitude of UIs in a touchscreen device. Similarly my parents found the aforementioned LG remote confusing because they didn't like clicking icons, and prefer to stick with a traditional remote with all the buttons on it.
As for your bank balance, probably not - ideas are cheap, it's building the products, bringing them to market, and marketing, that's all the difficulty. You couldn't make money just by thinking up the idea (nor would it stop anyone from later patenting it, based on recent events...)