Apple Unveiling Movie-Playing iPod?
Sept. 1, 2006 — -- Blogs and Apple fans are buzzing over a report that Apple is preparing to announce its iTunes music store will begin offering movie downloads.
The report, which appeared in Business Week, also claimed a new iPod with a larger screen to accommodate films will be announced at the same event, which the article claimed will be Sept. 12.
"We are expecting to see a new player from Apple -- we've been waiting for one since the last quarter," said Rob Enderle, principle analyst with the Enderle Group. "They need a player that really embraces video."
According to the report, Apple will charge from $9.99 for older films, to $14.99 for new releases.
Fans and technophiles have been eager to get a look at what Apple has in store for the company's first iPod built for movie playback -- but the experts have some idea of what we'll likely see later this month.
The iTunes music store has sold over one billion songs through the service and has successfully offered downloads of TV shows since last year. That success is due in no small part to the iPod's ubiquity and ease of use.
But in order to play movies, the player will require a Beverly-Hills-caliber makeover.
"The iPod Nano was optimized for short-form video like TV shows, music videos," said Michael Gartenberg, analyst with Jupiter Research. "You could get that sense based on form factor, screen size, battery life etc. … [A movie iPod] would need a larger viewing screen. And, of course, Apple's challenge is to keep that iPod form factor."
The larger screen is a big deal for the little dynamo. While TV shows and music videos are generally made to be watched on a squarish screen, movies are shot in widescreen and require a more rectangular screen for proper viewing.
If you've heard the term "aspect ratio" tossed around, those screen dimensions are what it refers to. Aspect ratio is the screen's width, divided by its height. A traditional television uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, while high-definition widescreen TVs use a 16:9 aspect ratio.
