“Ask Steve Jobs to describe the ‘next big thing’ for Apple Computer Inc., and a video iPod seems the furthest thing from his mind. For years, Apple’s CEO has dismissed the idea of portable video players, insisting that no one wants to watch movies on tiny screens. Then again, he pooh-poohed an Apple-branded music player just months before releasing his iconic white gadget in 2001. What’s more, two Hollywood execs say Apple has held talks with movie studios about downloading movies to PCs. While Jobs may be more interested in developing such technology to make it easier for Macintosh users to get movies at home, the talks have prompted speculation that the notoriously secretive Jobs will eventually launch a video iPod,” Cliff Edwards writes for BusinessWeek.
“In 2002, Creative’s Nomad products and Diamond Multimedia Inc.’s Rio-branded digital music players were the industry leaders, battling over which company had the better technology. Apple jumped onto the scene, boosting the sleepy market from 1.8 million units sold in 2001 to nearly 30 million this year. It quickly won 85% of the still-growing market by combining great hardware and software that made music downloads a snap with a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign that convinced consumers that the iPod was the coolest thing since the Sony Walkman. The result: In late August, Rio exited the market, and Creative remains awash in red ink after spending millions on advertising in a failed effort to boost its market share,” Edwards writes. “In some ways the portable video-player market today looks eerily similar to the music market in the days before Apple jumped in… Many analysts believe Jobs will bring digital movie downloads to home PCs and even to the living room before tackling portable devices. Perhaps. But rivals are taking no chances.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
BusinessWeek: video-ready Apple iPod won’t be about watching movies on the go – September 15, 2005
Apple’s iTunes 5 provides hints of future iTunes Video Store – September 13, 2005
Microsoft, Texas Instruments reps expect Apple ‘iPod video’ by end of year – August 16, 2005
Creative debuts US$399 video-capable 30GB music player – August 03, 2005
The next big thing? Apple’s iTunes 4.9 supports Video Podcasts (with example) – July 29, 2005
BusinessWeek: Think Apple’s developing ‘Video iPod?’ – Think Different – July 27, 2005
Apple’s ‘pure genius’ will soon make iTunes’ portal the ‘number one destination on the Internet’ – July 26, 2005
Video iPod? Does The Wall Street Journal have a ‘Deep Throat’ inside Apple Computer? – July 25, 2005
Cringely: Apple’s soon-to-come ‘iVideo’ movie download service very important to Intel – July 23, 2005
Selling music videos on Apple’s iTunes makes economic sense – July 19, 2005
Report: Disney considers teaming with Apple to deliver iPod video content – July 19, 2005
Ars Technica peeks at Apple’s portable video plans – July 18, 2005
More info about Apple’s reported iPod+iTunes video talks – July 18, 2005
WSJ: Apple in video iTunes talks, may unveil video iPod by September – July 18, 2005
Cringely: Apple working on HD movie download service and Video iPod – July 15, 2005
Cringley: Apple and Intel to merge; Steve Jobs finally beats Bill Gates – June 09, 2005
Apple’s shift to Intel really all about Hollywood, owning the living room, and Transitive – June 05, 2005
Cringely: This week changed the world of high tech forever – May 13, 2005
Cringely: Apple prepping Video iTunes, Video iPod, and setting stage for iPod clones – May 06, 2005
Mac Dude stop it with the FUD already. I hope your post is supposed to be a joke.
“The new Intel chips have the most stringent copy protection schemes we will ever witness in computers.”
What is the processor thats going to be in the new Macs? I didn’t know the details were released already. “Ever” is a strong word to use in wild speculation such as this.
“In order to watch a BlueRay or a HD-DVD a Mac will have to have a active internet connection.”
So I assume my home DVD player will have an internet connection too? No.
“Video to Apple monitors will be seperatly encrypted with Apple DRM, Apple monitors might already have the DRM chip inside.”
Apple just changed the entire display line to be more compatible with PC’s (dropping ADC for DVI) to increase sales a bit. Not to mention the MacMini sales would plummet if you had to purchase an Apple monitor with them.
“PC users will have to buy new monitors, adoption to downloadable videos on PC’s will be slower than on Mac’s because they don’t want to absorb the costs of the new hardware, this will come down in time giving Apple a head start.”
This is starting sound like a awful joke.
“Video content to ViPods will also be scrambled using the same Apple DRM.”
Of course downloadable content will have DRM attached.
Apple is almost ready to go now, it intends to be the first as it’s products usually target the upper end buyer.”
No.
who the hell’s saying ‘i told ya’..?
there’s nothing in this article except (SJ talking to movies studios about DLs)
Big deal.. downloading to a Mac Mini is NOT what Creative is doing.
Portable Video is lame.. give us instant rentals (somehow!..bandwidth?) and it will be iTMS all over again.. the option to buy video at a deep discount would be a no-brainer..
buying movies though.. hmmm.. only the great ones
your idea is atrocious. 1000 movies…assuming 1.2 gigs for a full movie…thats 1200 gig HD.
Sure buddy. lol.
As many people have already noted, a video iPod will not be the primary device for Apple in accessing this type of content. The iPod will be, at best, an ancillary tool, for transporting files and playing them at other locations (directly into TVs perhaps), but even that isn’t for sure. One reason being that the iPod would also have to be some sort of ‘HD video converter’ just to allow the content to be viewable on non-HD equipped monitors (TVs and computers alike). That’s a lot of hardware to pack in a small form factor – not impossible with the advent of high capacity flash chips (provided they get much more capacity than 4 gigs), though the time frame would likely be a couple years out on something like that.
Mostly though, the companies that own the media won’t allow any scheme that isn’t ‘locked down’ very tightly, and mobility inherently weakens control.
As MacDude says: “We will not see videos on ANYTHING, until spring 2006, when the new MacTels arrive.”
Absolutely right. Check out this article at Ars as verification:
“On Windows Vista, DRM, and new monitors”
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardware/hdcp-vista.ars
Don’t let the title fool you – this should be required reading for all Mac fans, especially those who still feel the Macintel transistion is just sooo EXCELLENT.
quote: “Apple will be on board too, possibly with the release of Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5). Tiger saw the light of day in April, and with the company intending to release Leopard around the same time as Vista, that means that we’ll be seeing HDCP support on the Mac (powered by Intel!) probably around the same time as the release of Windows Vista. And until then, we’ll all be scratching our heads as to how our Linux friends will solve this quandary, because HDCP has to be commercially licensed. Well, that is unless DVD Jon swoops in again, but cracking BDA’s discs won’t be as simple as cracking CSS.”
He says a lot more, but in general he don’t see this as a good thing, and I agree with him. In the short term we get some video centric computer, and Apple gets to re-create the iTMS in movies, but the costs seem too high. The obvious is that we won’t get to actually OWN anything anymore! This is no joke folks – this DRM scheme these media companies are forcing down our collective throats doesn’t just aim to make buying videos a prolonged rental experience, they want to do the same with audio as well. And the software companies – namely Microsoft – have been trying for years to figure out some way to make buying software morph in to renting software. The reason is to force the public to upgrade on THEIR time frame (not ours), and this will assuredly mean increased costs for everyone.
Another article of interest:
“When playing a CD becomes a “privilege,” not a right”
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050922-5339.html
And don’t even get me started about what a crok it is that moving to Intel CPUs is based on performance issues. Those of you who are familiar with my rants will be thankful for my restraint, but I’ll will say here that it is FICTION that Intel will be making CPUs that are the cutting edge of anything – low power included – in the future. They will be what they always have been; able performers. But is giving up on what PPC is finally delivering – really top notch computing power – really worth a convienient way to watch a movie? As for doubts about PPC, once need only look at a recent MDN article on yet another big name buyer tagging it – in the form of Apple’s own soon-to-be-killed G5 Xserve – as the best performance value on the supercomputer market today:
“XServe to Drive new EU Supercomputer Cluster”
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/6967/
God only knows what a Power5 version would have been like, or even a modified Cell (a more PC-centric version is already being worked on). All the DRM/TPU spec’d Macintels promise anyone is a new way to squeeze you for more money and less privacy. But hey – we’ll be able to buy MOVIES! ONLINE!!
Frankly, I’m not convinced the trade-off is worth it.
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infinite looper,
your’e kinda an idiot. you posted no argument, and your best counter argument was, “no.”
Think before you post, k?
>nobody wants to watch a full length movie on a 1 1/2″ screen.>
I know 3 guys who’d do it. They are locked up though.
Ever heard of a T E R A B Y T E harddrive before? Not atrocious, revolutionary I would say! H-264 compression makes it feasible. I didn’t say it would be the size of a regular iPod of coarse. Anyway Apple’s not much into doing the obvious you know.
“Here’s to the crazy ones,
The misfits, the dreamers…”
– Apple
Q: What in the name of video has Steve Jobs been featuring in several past keynotes, and even in iPod Nano media event?
A1: The H.264 standard incorporated in QuickTime aka iTunes, operating over international video hook-ups!
A2: There will be no video iPodCasts from Apple that does not use the industry standard H.264.
A3: Although H.264 requires relatively small download bandwidth, is scalable to high definition on any size screen, it still needs a high-powered computer to make it operate in real time!
A4: Fitting high powered computers into iPod type devices is not a current option. Therefore, I think we should “Think Different” when pondering what Apple might have in store for us regarding online video devices!
A5: Apple has recently switched to Intel, ostensibly because of performance per Watt, that will meet Apple’s future needs. Intel itself has publicly announced, in recent days, a new range of performance per Watt devices. In Jobs last keynote, the Intel bloke said they are pleased to work with an innovative Apple!
A6: Yes! We should ask, in regard to video: Hasta la Vista? (Or: Have you a vision?) I think Apple is “Thinking Different” when it comes to the subject of video!
abqmac and Caruso–yes! yes! TV!
I can’t imagine cinematic films ever being enjoyable on a tiny screen, but TV is meant to be seen on a small screen. It’s shot with fewer wide angles and more close ups, so people aren’t like little ants in the picture. Plus, TV shows are generally short. I can imagine watching a pre-recorded half-hour news program or sitcom on the way to work, for example. The image is not as important as the sound.
Odyssey67:
Thank you for your well-reasoned rant. I couldn’t agree more (about the HD digital rights management issues and the passing of the PowerPC).
I am typically an early adopter of all things high-end A/V. For many of the issues you mention, HD-DVD may be the one technology I pass on. I’m all in favor of content creators making their due; but to assume everyone is a criminal is a slap in the face.
Another read to ponder:
http://www.dvdfile.com/news/viewpoints/editors_desk/2005/05_18.html
I can live with standard definition DVD just fine.
For all who poo poo the small screen for watching movies I bet you never took a 14 hour non-stop flight or had a 37 hour travel day.
Get your eyes off the screen size for a second and remember that the sound track would be playing in magnificent stereo which would be awesome thru Bose noise cancelling headphones (just as my iPods are right now).
On the better airlines they give you a choice of 4 to 6 personal video channels but there’s rarely ANYTHING I find to be entertaining.
I have a 12″ Powerbook that’s been around the world with me many times. Changing batteries sucks. Carrying batteries sucks. The hassle of carrying a laptop and 4 batteries through airport security sucks.
A tiny player capable of holding a lot of personalized content would be a God send for people who have to travel a lot for their job.
Previous players to date have unacceptable problems like the picture quality (usually some kind of dumbed down video stream – I don’t want 15fps), or a lack of software support for managing content (to and from the player). And then there’s the thorny issue of how to get content to view in the first place or even how to make your own. Notice that all these things are what were wrong with MP3 players before Åpple transformed the market with the iPod.
Most assuredly the V-Pod will have an external output which will be capable of driving a TV set and looking comparable to current DVD picture and sound quality. It’s coming! When the market is ready
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Video iPod NO
re: Video iPod NO
Apple has said that it doesn’t make a heck of alot of $$$ selling music. I suppose it would be the same for video.
Apple is not interested in selling video over the internet unless it can make a significant profit selling a “box” i.e. the video iPod.
Informed:
Thanks for the link – a more detailed an explaination than I’m used to seeing, and well explained. So … it’s just about as bad as I thought. 😀 How great the world will be, when my new HD-DVD player or computer (internet connection required for both) will be disabled by the manufacturer, or maybe just by the studios, simply because someone, somewhere in the world, will have figured out some way of circumventing their protections, regardless of how widespread the damage actually is. I can’t wait – and I certainly will be sending a nice ‘thankyou’ note to His Steveness for hustling this consumer friendly transition along …
Well, I do see one, small, possible silver lining in the following quote from the author:
“… you know as well as I do that as soon as the new high definition formats hit the market, there will be the unscrupulous and the mischievous (hackers) launching their attacks (on the new encryption standard). How long will it take before hackers provoke the victimization of the innocent? And how fair or reasonable is the studios’ intent to punish law-abiding home theater enthusiasts because of the acts of a few sociopaths?”
And that might be the wall that they finally can’t scale – exponential consumer outrage. Once this stuff hits the market, and once these companies start pulling their shit, it will hit the fan and rebound right back in their faces. Billions will be lost and/or wasted.
As you said, I too can live with DVDs and my old PPC based Macs for a looong time if necessary. It’s just a shame that it looks like it may well be.
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Not trying to be a killjoy….
But I’m just thinking Steve-o just liked portable music players because he was personally inspired by them.
Is he inspired by video too? well, maybe.
OK, he probably is.
Thanks for listening
video iPod – I would buy one.
I specifically have not been excited enough to purchase an iPod until I see one that can display video (on screen and output) and record video/audio. My Archos has done all of that for years. The small screen is perfectly fine for video preview of what I have just recorded, much like a digital camera has a “small screen”. I thought the nano’s screen too small for photos, so, by the same logic as the “anti video on a small screen”, why bother allowing photos on a nano for that matter?