MacRumors

Apple has greatly expanded the iTunes Music Store this morning to include a number of new television show content.

Apple originally launched the video/television portion of their iTunes Store with limited content -- including only three ABC shows, and two Disney shows.

Today, Apple has launched with a number of new NBC, Sci Fi and USA shows including:

NBC: Law and Order, The Office, Surface, The Tonight Show, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dragnet, Adam-12, Knight Rider
Sci Fi: Battlestar Galactica, Battlestar Galactica Miniseries
USA: Monk

Most episodes remains $1.99 per episode, and some of the shows offered are "vintage" episodes of older television shows (Knight Rider, Adam-12, Dragnet, Alfred Hitchcock). (A few "special" episodes are priced at $9.99 per episode.)

Update: Press release - Apple has sold over 3 million videos in the first two months of video sales.

Think Secret is reporting that Apple has tapped Synaptics to supply click wheels for the iPod nano.

Earlier this year, Apple abandoned Synaptics and its proprietary click-wheel technology and circuitry for the nano in favor of its own proprietary application based on a part manufactured by Cypress Semiconductor Corp. But Cypress has been unable to keep up with increased holiday demand for that part, sources inside Apple have said.

In related news, Think Secret also is reporting that Apple's original estimates of selling between 8-10 million nano's may have been too optimistic, and has adjusted that number downwards to 7.5 million for the fiscal first quarter.

Last week, Intel announced company support for its Viiv media platform due in the 1st quarter of 2006.

A Viiv-based PC is expected to provide a standard compatibility platform to provide:

- Remote control operation
- Dual-core processor
- On demand Movies, Music, Pictures and Games
- Ability to Record, Pause and Rewind Live TV (DVR functionality)
- Surround sound/home theatre support

The recent press release announced the adoption by a variety of companies to provide compatibility testing and content for Viiv.

Intel is providing the engineering support, specifications and verification tools to content owners, content distributors, portals, software application developers and device vendors to help deliver Internetbased content services and software applications that are tested and verified to work with an Intel Viiv technology-based PC. The verified content services and applications will be capable of being accessed in full screen format with simple access using a remote control.

Meanwhile, recent rumors have pointed to Apple revamping their media distribution with the announcement of new partners for feature length as well as expanded television offerings. While there has been the typical analyst speculation that Apple and Intel may somehow be working together on a tie-in between Viiv and Mac OS X, there has been some independent verification that there will indeed be further cooperation between the two companies and Viiv.

Think Secret claims that Apple is set to unveil a new media content delivery system, which will include feature-length content, expanded television offerings, and more.

According to their source, the new system will rely on .Mac's iDisk for storage, keeping media files from ever being held locally on the purchaser's hard drive, utilizing the recently rumored Front Row 2.0.

In addition, Think Secret claims that Apple is poised to offer a number of new partnerships with various content providers, possibly including NBC, CBS and Paramount Pictures. Fox Filmed Entertainment has already gone on record as saying they were "open to" a deal with iTunes.

Apple has announced a milestone for the EU iTMS, with a countdown promotion starting today (Dec. 2).

Music fans in 17 countries around Europe are clicking their way to 100 million downloads on the European iTunes Music Stores. And to celebrate this milestone in the digital music revolution, we are running a special promotion to thank you for helping us make history.

100 Millionth Song Grand Prize
Selling 100 million songs on the iTunes Music Stores in Europe marks a dramatic acceleration in the purchase of legally downloadable music on the Internet. And the music fan who purchases the 100 millionth song in Europe will receive a prize that is just as dramatic and makes the digital music experience complete:

One 17-inch iMac G5 to command an entire world of music, photos, movies and DVDs, all from your sofa with Front Row and the new Apple Remote.
One 30GB iPod to take your music collection with you wherever you go.
10,000-song Gift Card for the iTunes Music Store to buy all the songs you want and fill up your new iPod.
Two Tickets for you and a friend to see Robbie Williams live in concert on his 2006 tour.

[Update] The 100 millionth download in Europe was album "Die Zauberflte" by Mozart, downloaded by grand prize winner Ken Reist from Steenokkerzeel, Belgium at 6.22 pm on December 6th.

MacCentral summarizes Apple's recent Form 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission which provides an overview of the company's over the past fiscal year.

Highlights include:

- Net Mac sales increased 27% year over year
- Average price of a Mac fell 7%
- 21% year over year growth in sales in higher education
- 11% growth in K-12
- 28 Million iPods sold with 248% revenue increase year over year
- 38 new brick and mortar retail stores in 2005
- Retail sales almost doubled to $2.4 billion
- Research and Development increased (up 9%)

Appleinsider posts some information and a presentation slide on the upcoming Motorola ROKR E2 phone.

The ROKR E2 is the successor to the ROKR E1 which was released by Apple and Motorola in September. While the E1 represented the first iTunes enabled cell phone, it was met with many criticisms.

Meanwhile, a recent Businessweek article reported that Motorola was revamping the ROKR for 2006 with many new features.

In 2006, Motorola is planning on introducing a new version of the ROKR that addresses many of the issues of the first generation. New features expected include a 1 megapixel camera, a 3.5mm earphone jack, capacity to hold 1000 songs, and a "sleek new look". iTunes support is expected to remain.

AppleInsider reports that IDG World Expo announced Steve Jobs will be the keynote speaker for MacWorld San Francisco at the Moscone Center on January 10, 2006.

MWSF keynote speeches are typically a forum for Apple to make consumer-level product announcements, with last year's address releasing the Mac mini and iPod shuffle, along with iLife '05 and iWork.

As always, MacRumors.com will attempt to provide live coverage from the keynote speech, although recent media events by Apple have been in locations with blocked communications channels limiting only specific media outlets to provide coverage. If you are planning to attend the keynote speech, please contact us.
Press Release: Steve Jobs to Kick Off Macworld San Francisco 2006 with Keynote Address

Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner claims that Apple is poised to release an Intel-based laptop as early as January. Additionally, Gardner forsees Apple becoming a $20 billion company in 2006.

Apple Computer could introduce its first laptop computers based on Intel chips as early as January, which, together with robust sales of video iPods, should drive earnings higher, Citigroup said Wednesday.

It is not known if Gardner is looking at new information from Apple, or simply responding to recent rumors (1, 2) of Intel-based Apple hardware being ready for debut at MacWorld San Francisco.

Appleinsider points to recent developer updates to Mac OS X for Intel.

According to the rumor site, Apple has distributed Mac OS X 10.4.3 Intel Build 8F1111. The update is said to provide additional printer drivers, native version of Quicktime 7.0.4 and other improvements.

One component that saw significant updates included Rosetta - Apple's PowerPC emulation layer for the Intel Macs.

Rosetta included improved support for OpenGL as well as support for AltiVec. This report corroborates a previous Page 2 report claiming the same.
Update: OSx86Project claims that Appleinsider's article is entirely based on their original report. Though Appleinsider does cite both "sources and reports on the Internet".

Now available via Software Update:

Security Update 2005-009 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users.

This update includes the following components:

apache_mod_ssl, CoreFoundation, CoreTypes, curl, iodbcadmin, OpenSSL, Safari, sudo, syslog

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798

Think Secret claims an Intel-based Mac mini will make an appearance at MacWorld San Francisco in January. Expected to be included in the update, other than the move to Intel processor:

Front Row 2.0
"TiVo-Killer" DVR application
Built-In iPod Dock
Possible move to 3.5" hard drive

Whether the DVR capability comes standard on the mini or as an add-on module is unknown. According to Think Secret, the built-in iPod dock was expected on the first mini, but later scrapped. The inclusion of a larger 3.5" hard drive would indicate the form factor for the mini would increase in size to accomodate it.