Apple videos hint at film ambitions

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movie trailer page shows clips from new films as well as from DVDs. It also lists 17 major studios by name and links to each of their trailers.

Although the movie clips are free, the trailer page also sells film soundtracks and audio books. That's the holy grail of entertainment marketing: the cross-promotion of movies, soundtracks and books.

In one deal offered exclusively on the iTunes store, you can watch the movie trailer of Steven Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," buy the soundtrack for $9.99 and get an audio book of H.G. Wells' classic, starring the cast of "Star Trek," for $12.95. The next logical step--assuming the business hurdles can be crossed--would be to include the movies themselves.

The hardware side of Apple's video plans is more vexing. Many analysts have speculated that Apple will release a video iPod. That may support the new music videos finding their way into iTunes, but is unlikely to form the backbone of a full movie distribution service, according to those interviewed.

In the past, Jobs has downplayed the video iPod. "A lot of these other things that people are talking about building in, such as video and things like that, are foreground activities," he said last year. "You can't drive a car when you're watching a movie, you know? It's really hard."

But the popularity and picture quality of Sony's PlayStation Portable device could force Apple's hand. Sources said Apple has looked at prototypes of portable video players in its labs, and future versions of iPods could play music videos, if not full-length movies.

"People watch videos when they sit down for two hours. Technology won't change that."

--Steve Perlman, co-founder, WebTV

As a first step, Apple could turn the Mac into more of a home media player, industry executives said.

"A home media player would be the best thing," said Steve Perlman, co-founder of WebTV and a former Apple scientist who helped launch QuickTime. "People watch videos when they sit down for two hours. Technology won't change that."

Apple's release of the Mac Mini earlier this year only reaffirmed their thinking. The pint-sized $499 computer looks and works more like a media PC than a laptop or desktop. It's small enough to sit near a television, so a person could plug it into the TV and play music videos or movies.

A Mac Mini with a faster processor, linked to a high-definition TV, could play high-definition video, now that Tiger supports HD video. A bigger hard drive would hold more videos, too.

A unit that wirelessly streams video, in the way AirportExpress streams music, could also be built.

A similar unit could be built to handle video signals. LG makes a digital video adapter, and other manufactures are on the verge of releasing similar products, said Kevin Corbett, vice president and chief technology officer of the digital home group at Intel. Corbett declined to comment on Apple's plans.

Related reading
Apple's new core

Read News.com's complete coverage of Apple's dramatic decision to transition to Intel processors.

The agreement struck earlier this month for Apple to use Intel chips in its computers could pave the way for a Mac home media center. Besides its fast processors, Intel has been building companion chipsets, such as Grantsdale, that are tailored to the digital home.

Jobs hinted at the benefits of going with Intel earlier this month. "We can envision some awesome products we want to build for our customers in the next few years. And as we look out a year or two in the future, Intel's processor road map really aligns with where we want to go much more than any other," he said after the announcement.

Intel also is making inroads in Hollywood. Earlier this month, Intel and actor Morgan Freeman's movie production company, Revelations Entertainment, said they have formed a new venture aimed at distributing first-run movies over the Internet.

The chipmaker also has built a digital home in Santa Monica, Calif., that showcases the latest in home entertainment technology.

"We want to show studio heads the state of the digital home and how digital-rights management works," Corbett said. "If somebody had shown this to the music industry six years ago, they might have been more proactive against piracy."

"For the first time since the Mac, Apple has created an opportunity to reinvent their business well beyond PCs."

--Mike Homer, Silicon Valley executive

In addition, Intel has been a leading member of consortiums such as the Digital Home Working Group, which creates digital-rights management systems and other technologies that will clear the way for movie downloads.

Hurdles remain, however. Apple created a digital-rights management technology called FairPlay when it launched iTunes three years ago. But FairPlay hasn't withstood attacks by computer hackers. "It took them roughly a day to crack it," one studio executive said of FairPlay.

While movie studios remain skeptical about copy protection, making enough money from movie downloads is the bigger concern, Corbett said. Profits from movie downloads, a business dominated by small companies such as CinemaNow and Movielink, are scant.

In addition, subscription-based movie downloads are limited because existing agreements between the studios and HBO, Showtime and Starz have locked up most of the Internet rights.

But don't underestimate Jobs, whose iPod took people by surprise and now accounts for one-third of Apple's sales. Years from now, a video service could make Apple more like Sony--a consumer-electronics giant that pipes digital music, music videos and movies into the living room or iPod-like devices.

"For the first time since the Mac," Homer said, "Apple has created an opportunity to reinvent their business well beyond PCs."

Hmmm

Perhaps we'll see an AirVids added on to the Airport Express, a video iPod, HiDef movies being purchased over an application named iStation, and the downfall of worthless encodings such as REAL and Windows Media.

I think, if anyone will do it, it WILL be Apple. The industry has faith in him and his company and engineers. They will, no doubt, be the ones to bring us our entertainment.

[Darwin Hall]

Revenge of the Newton

We all know the video iPod is coming, but are we overlooking
something? 4200 rpm just doesn't cut it for my tastes. What is the
PSP running? Archaos?

[Christopher Hall]

re: PSP

The PSP is hard-driveless. The UMD mechanism is the only movable part that reads the memory; all other memory is accessed by Memory Stick Duo, which is a solid-state interface.

That OS that is used is proprietary Sony.

I'm confused, though, how the PSP pertains to the 4200 rpm hard drive.

[madpiper56]

As if Apple was first?

Apple is not even the first entrant in this area yet the media acts like the other products don't even exist. What about companies like iRiver? Guess their video players don't count?

Give me a break. The iPod does one thing and does it well, but there are better products out for a better price.

Name one

Name one product that produces superior sound, and a better user interface. You can't because there are none. I've played with MP3 player on the market and none of them are as intuitive as the iPod. NONE. Dell? Slow-scrolling, clunky. iRiver? Useless interface. Sony? Sure, let's take an hour ot get to the bottom of my library. PFT.

[Juster444]

It's not that Apple is the first, it's that...

they expect Apple to do for portable video players what Apple did for portable audio players. The market for portable audio players was already around before Apple came out with iPod, but it wasn't going anywhere until iPod burst onto the scene along with its iTunes software and music store, and the rest is history.

The portable video player market is at the same stage as the pre-iPod mp3 player market. It's there, but sales are low and there's nothing real exciting taking place. If Apple enters the market, then it will have to be seen if the iPod phenomenon can be recreated. I doubt it. watching videos is not a passive action, as is listening to music, that can be done while doing other activities.

Very young people may like watching videos on a 2-inch screen, but Steve Jobs has already predicted that most people won't go for it. Will he prove himself wrong by coming out with a top-end iPod that plays videos?

[iKenny]

How I'd like it:

Here's how I'd like an Apple movie service to work:
1) Find movies on store (iMovie store??)
2) Pay $8 or so and download movie to hard disk
3) Be given option to burn x number of DVD copies of movie at
full quality (H.264 can accomplish this at low data rates and file
sizes)
4) Movie can also be put on video iPods, streamed around the
house

I think the DVD option would be crucial, because for many
people who've invested already in DVD players, they'd like to be
able to keep using DVDs and not have to stream everything,
although that would be an appealing option as well. Most Macs
have DVD burners now, and PCs are catching up, so it wouldn't
be difficult. The downloaded data could include the data for the
menu and stuff.

[hatandglasses13]

Mac Mini?

"The pint-sized $499 computer looks and works more like a
media PC than a laptop or desktop."

How does it *work* more like a media PC? It functions exactly
the same as any other Mac. It might look more like one because
of its size, but I can't see how it works being used to predict
Apple's entry into digital video sales. It has the same Mac OS X
operating system and the same iLife applications as any other
Mac... so that would mean that every Mac "works more like a
media PC than a desktop or laptop," which is not the case.

Poor argument, Cnet.

[miketkrw]

Macs are media PC's

Replying to your comment, so that would mean that every Mac
"works more like a media PC than a desktop or laptop," which is
not the case.", I must beg to differ. I think every mac is much
closer to a media PC than a desktop. The combination of OSX
and ILife make the Mac a natural digital entertainment system.

I think that although there may be a video IPod, an Apple move
into downloadable and streaming video content is much more
likely to be tied to their computers. This could likely be a big
part of the Intel switch.

[Christopher Hall]

Can someone please explain "podcasting" to me?

I don't understand what it is or how it works. If it's not too much trouble, may I ask for some assistance? Thanks in advance.

[Llib Setag]

Podcasts info

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.apple.com/podcasting/" target="_newWindow">http://www.apple.com/podcasting/</a>

Unless you are from Redmond, WA. then the term "podcast" is illegal on the MS Campus, then you must use the term "blogcast" or "MS-Mediacast" or "Longhorncast"...

[Llib Setag]

iPod + Broadcasting = Podcasting

World wide radio via internet, published on the internet.

Podcasts are like TiVo for Radio.
Digital, on demand listening via subscription to radio broadcasts on your schedule. (free with Apple's iTunes software Mac + PC)

Also, YOU can be the DJ or host, &#38; "podcast" your show up to the Internet via feed link / RSS...

Have fun!