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Apple likely to announce iPods, iTV, new iTunes on Sept. 1
Apple surprised industry insiders Wednesday afternoon with an invitation to its exclusive event at the Yerba Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco on Sept. 1.
In keeping with Apple tradition, the e-mail invite is slim on details, featuring a 9 a.m. registration time, directions and a music-themed illustration. Last year, the Sept. invite featured a version of Apple's iconic dancing silluete. This year, it's an acoustic guitar, the cut out shaped like the Apple logo. What could it possibly mean? Best not to read too much into these things, history shows. Apple is likely to announce iPods, a new cloud-based iTunes and the improved Apple TV, rebranded "iTV." What's more, this morning Bloomberg reported that the company has a few content deals in the works that will allow iTunes users to rent TV shows for 99 cents.
For gadget nuts, the hottest thing on the menu will probably be the iPod Touch, which will hopefully be redesigned to look like the iPhone 4 and, more importantly, come with a front-facing camera for FaceTime videoconferencing. There may also be a new iPod Shuffle. (More on those rumored gadgets and other upcoming Apple works.)
Some have speculated that the new iTunes would bring music and video into the cloud, requiring people to have less of it stored up on their devices, but to rely more on wireless networks — either Wi-Fi or, in the case of iPhones, 3G — in order to deliver content. This would lay the groundwork for not only more flexibility with iPods and iPhones, it would also open the door for the new iTV.
The iTV is expected to be a slimmed down Apple TV with a slimmed-down price — $100, as opposed to the $230 currently charged. What's different? Unlike its predecessor, which features a 160GB hard drive, the slimmed down iTV likely won't have a hard drive and will require broadband connection. The video output on the new device would be 720p, not the "full" high def of 1080p — a difference most people won't notice.
Even with new content providers, the iTV may not achieve the popularity of other Apple products such as the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Even Apple CEO Steve Jobs isn't holding great expectations for the reportedly renamed "iTV," according to a Bloomberg source.
"Even with the refresh, Jobs isn't convinced the new version will be a mainstream hit, says the person familiar with Apple's plans," Bloomberg's Peter Burrows reported. "Most consumers aren't ready to cut the cord on their cable company, or put up with the tech-nastics required to stream content from the iTunes collection on their PC to their living room big-screen TV."
Apple is currently in content deal talks with News Corp.'s Fox, CBS Corp., NBC Universal and Walt Disney, Burrows wrote(Msnbc.com is an NBC Universal-Microsoft joint venture.) "The content deals would give Apple users access to some of the most-watched shows on TV."
Industry watchers speculate that this may be Apple's new offensive on content companies that offer online video, such as Hulu and Netflix. The new Apple TV, or "iTV" is expected to feature an app store that will allow users to download specific shows and channels. Its three-year-old Apple TV predecessor allows users to purchase or rent Hollywood movies and TV shows, and streams photos and music from computers to the TV and sound system.
Streaming iTunes content through a PC, and on to the living room television is still a complicated process for the casual Apple customer however, and "most consumers aren't ready to cut the cord on their cable company, or put up with the tech-nastics required," Burrows wrote. "Instead, the focus will be that users can watch their favorite TV shows and movies on an iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The new Apple TV, the report said, will be the 'tail end' of Apple's video strategy."
Regardless of how well received Apple's announcements will be, all of techdom will be watching on Sept. 1 to see what, exactly, Jobs & Co. decide to reveal.
as seen on msnbc
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