'It's Showtime': September 12th, 2006
More details of the event were released today when Apple sent out invitations to select media members. The invites says "It's Showtime":
First word of the event leaked out on August 31st, with multiple reports of a media event to be held in San Francisco. Today, the digital invitations were sent out confirming the event and setting a time and place.
The announcements will take place at 10:00am Pacific time at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco. Based on the title of the invitation, it appears likely that the long rumored Movie Store will finally be released.
Businessweek recently provided some early details of the service, which they claim to offer movies from $9.99-$14.99. Meanwhile, Appleinsider feels a new video streaming device will also be introduced. Meanwhile, Core 2 Duo iMacs and new iPods are also expected.
If you have access to this media event, please contact us.
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...I don't even get TV shows... :(
iTunes Movie Store is certain, although it would be interesting to note how apple goes about selling movies (like the resolution, download times, pricing etc.)
Edit: If they don't up the quality of the movies to the base HD spec of 720p then they may as well not bother. I'd rather go and buy the DVDs. The only way I'd be tempted to purchase via iTunes would be if the quality I could get would be higher. I don't care if it takes a while to download.
iLounge have an invitation: Definitely new iPods of some form
"Centre for the Arts Theatre": Most likely some sort of movie content
iLounge have an invitation: Consumer event, new iMacs most likely.
I get the feeling the purported MacBook Pro updates are going to happen externally to this event, most probably when Apple can get enough into the distribution pipeline to begin immediate shipping.
So, I'm going to make a bold prediction here and say that it will be similar to last year's "One More Thing..." event but with a focus on "Bigger."
Act One: Last year was the iMac with built-in iSight and Front Row/Photo Booth software. This year it all gets bigger with new Core 2 Duo iMacs now in 17", 20" and 23" models. All models get HDMI-in ports and Front Row gains a "TV" option. No PVR functionality, no worrying about differing TV formats and delivery systems, if you have a box with HDMI-out you can watch TV on your iMac too.
Act Two: Last year it was the sales of iPod, iTunes Music Store and iPod accessories. This year, with the focus on "bigger" Apple announce the availability of feature-length movies on iTunes. iTunes 7 makes use of new Bit-Torrent style downloads from servers all over the world to ensure rapid download speeds, H.264 encoding allows for the smallest possible file size. $9.99 for DVD quality, $14.99 for HD.
Act Three: Last year was the new 5th generation iPod. This year we go "bigger" with the new 6th generation iPod sporting a 4.5" full-colour LCD screen at a resolution of 720x480. Incredible screen, more detail than ever before and you are able to download your iTunes-purchased movies onto it and watch them in bright, sharp, full colour. Available in 40GB and 80GB models and sporting a revolutionary new touch-control interface with hints of Apple's Front Row software the new iPod is shipping today.
Rip me apart if you will, I don't think Apple should make an iPhone. The global mobile phone system is too complex. The US are only just getting 3G whilst we're all looking down the road at 4G but that is Apple's biggest market. Maybe a US-only iPhone will appear but as it stands, other more-established phone makers have the market sorted globally.
MacBook Pro to be updated when Core 2 Duo production hits peak. Late September.
Comments?
Somebody cast doubt on the HDMI thing, I don't know - just seemed like the easiest option to get video into an iMac. You don't have to worry about all the different methods of getting TV (free to air, digital, cable) because if you have a HDMI-enabled receiver it would just plug into the back of the iMac. You'd need to use the receiver's remote to do all the channel changing but Apple could offer some sort of recording program. EyeHome could do something with it too? I'm no expert, just trying to look at a simple solution for a complicated, fragmented problem.
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