Following reports just a week ago, which highlighted the thoughts of late Apple Chairman, Steve Jobs, regarding the current state of the television and its direction moving into the future, Nick Bilton for The New York Times tonight reports that the rumors are true and Apple is, in fact, building a television set.

Claiming Apple’s continued work on the project actually predates the introduction of the original iPhone, which hit the market back in January, 2007, Bilton notes that the product reflects pure “science fiction” as Apple not only plans to launch a TV set, but a TV set with intelligent voice assistance technology, powered by non other than, Siri.

It’s the stuff of science fiction. You sit on your couch and rather than fumble with several remotes or use hand gestures, you simply talk: “Put on the last episode of Gossip Girl.” “Play the local news headlines.” “Play some Coldplay music videos.” Siri does the rest.

Of course this experience goes beyond just playing TV shows or the local news. As the line between television programming and Web content continues to erode, a Siri-powered television would become more necessary. You aren’t going to want to flip through file folders or baskets of content, checking off what you want. Telling Siri to “play videos of cute cats falling asleep” would return an endless YouTube stream of adorable napping fur balls.

However, while the project is thought to exist, Bilton is keen to highlight that, according to his sources, the firm has “quite a bit of work to do” before the set is ready for prime time. One particular aspect of the product Apple is said to be working extremely hard at getting right is the outer exterior, although further details on how the product might look once launched, were not available.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the report, though, is the last line, which reads: “it is coming though. It’s not a matter of if, it’s a matter of when,” seemingly wanting to expel all possible doubt that the product won’t soon be in our living rooms.

[via MacRumors]