From:
http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/valves-gabe...Quoting Gabe Newell,
> Well, if we have to sell hardware we will. We have no reason to believe we’re any good at it, it’s more we think that we need to continue to have innovation and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that’s what we’ll do. It’s definitely not the first thought that crosses our mind; we’d rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do that.
Who do we know that's good at manufacturing and selling hardware? Which company has had explosive growth in the video game sector as a platform provider in the last few years? What company famously has its eye on the television market?
Valve and Apple have priorities and incentives that align nicely for a partnership on a new console-like thing. They also seem very alike when it comes to design values.