“The WSJ is reporting today that Apple has been in talks with major recording companies about selling music videos on iTMS. Apple is also seeking to license some television shows for online sale, although the Journal notes that securing Internet TV distribution rights will take a lot longer than music videos,” Hannibal writes for Ars Technica.
“In my most recent article on the Apple-Intel switch, I mentioned that I had some information that a video iPod was in the works, and indeed Apple’s recent moves are seen by the WSJ and other analysts as a clear signal that a video iPod may be here as soon as September,” Hannibal writes. “I think it’s pretty obvious now that Apple is prepping a portable video competitor to Sony’s PSP, and that the company would like to have as big of a role in the creation of a legitimate online video distribution market as they have had in the online music market. So the big question is exactly what is Apple’s game plan? How will iTMS and the video iPod work together to position Apple and add to the company’s bottom line? I think the iPod + iTMS + AAC combination is an excellent guide for what Apple would like to do with video, and it can be used to predict some details of the iPod video business model.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: QuickTime, Pixar, DRM that only works with “iPod video” models, direct competition with Microsoft’s Windows Media format, the eventualy rebranding of “iTunes Music Store” to something else all figure into Hannibal’s speculation. iTunes Media Store? iTunes Music & Video Store? iMedia 5.0 and the Apple iMedia Store?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Ars Technica: Why Apple really went Intel; ‘Macintosh is Apple’s past, iPod is Apple’s future’ – July 11, 2005