“A multimedia version of the iPod with a video iTunes store could be available by next year, according to two financial analysts with UBS Investment Research,” Tom Sanders reports for vnunet.com. “The analysts maintain that Apple is monitoring how consumers receive the video playing features in Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP). If consumers accept the PSP as a video playing device, it would validate the market for a multimedia version of the iPod.”

“‘We would not be surprised if Apple eventually launched some form of multimedia iPod,’ Ben Reitzes and Jeff Brickman from UBS wrote in a research note,” Sanders reports. A multimedia iPod would cost less than $500, the analysts speculated, and would feature a colour display similar to Sony’s. It is likely to offer at least four hours of battery life and 60GB of storage. The launch would not be expected before 2006, according to the analysts, ‘but [we] would not be surprised to hear more about this topic into the holidays.’ A multimedia iPod would be followed by an iTunes for movies and video by the end of 2006, the report stated.”

Full article here.

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