The fruit moles are at it again, telling us that the information we told you about previously - suggesting that Apple was developing a new replacement for the Apple TV that would be more of a casual gaming console device and interactive entertainment hub - is, indeed, correct.

The problem is that this new casual gaming console device and interactive entertainment hub will not arrive till likely in the holiday season of 2012 at the earliest, with a 2013 launch being more likely. The strategy is dependent on getting more users to download games into their iPhone or iPod Touch in an effort to attract developers to the Apple platform prior to the release of such a device.

While we don’t know much about what the specifics would look like, we can only suggest that it might be a cross between something akin to the power of the first Xbox for gaming, with the abilities of a series 3 TiVo, with the user interface on the TV of an iPod Touch. It does seem logical that Apple might try to make a splash in this market space, if you really think about it.

In the meantime, the moles do say that we will still see a more advanced Apple TV product to be released shortly that will feature the Nvidia technology of the Mac Mini platform wrapped into a new package, bundled with some new features to help Apple take consumers’ temperatures as to their interest in using an Apple product as part of their TV entertainment choices.

Some developers are already expressing their interest publicly in Apple’s development of such a device. With the focus being on casual gaming as well as entertainment delivery, it could be successful, with the Apple Store integration as well as the iPod support that it could offer.