“The rumor mill has been buzzing of late with word of a new kind of iPod — one capable of playing videos. And that has Apple watchers wondering how chief exec Steve Jobs might position the new product. After all, Jobs has downplayed the potential of such a device for years, arguing that the iPod’s small screen would make it a lousy machine on which to watch a movie,” Peter Burrows writes for BusinessWeek.
“Yet something is in the works. Apple has been talking to record labels about licensing music videos so they can be sold for $2 or so on its iTunes Music Store, says one music industry executive. Media reports suggest Apple is also in talks with TV studios including Disney about getting the rights to other kinds of programming,” Burrows writes. “Will Jobs really change his tune on the subject? Probably not. While some expect the company to unveil a revolutionary new kind of iPod, designed specifically for playing video, chances are the company will simply fold some video capabilities into all future iPods.”
Burrows writes, “Maybe Apple can turn its online store, which now generates little profit, into a big moneymaker by pushing more types of media through its virtual gates. ‘Maybe it turns out that iTunes becomes a general server for all kinds of content,’ says technology analyst Mark Anderson, founder of Strategic News Service. ‘Maybe his dream is to be the chokehold for all this content.'”
Full article here.
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