http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/13/technology/13apple.html
Steven P. Jobs, Apple Computer’s chief executive, concluded a much-anticipated company event on Tuesday with his usual tease, noting that he had “one last thing” to introduce.
Then, in an unusual departure from Apple’s practice of announcing new products when they are ready to ship, he talked about a product due out early next year that will be the company’s first step into the living room. The device, which Apple is calling iTV for now, will plug into a television and wirelessly pull in video and music from a Macintosh computer in the den or from the Internet. The box, which will cost $299, is about the size of a slim paperback novel.
The iTV device places Apple squarely in the consumer electronics market and gives it a way to compete directly with Microsoft and PC industry giants like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, which are also eagerly looking at markets for entertainment beyond the PC screen.
As expected, Apple added movies to its iTunes online store. It will initially offer 75 movies for download from four studios, all owned by the Walt Disney Company, on whose board Mr. Jobs sits. He is also its largest individual shareholder.
New movies will cost $14.99, or $12.99 if preordered or bought within the first week of release; older movies will cost $9.99.
Other movie studios were conspicuously absent from the announcement. Some have resisted the idea of offering movies that can be downloaded, fearing the loss of lucrative DVD sales.
Apple is a late entrant to the living room market, which is already crowded with digital devices that can play video, like the Xbox and PlayStation game consoles and Microsoft-based Media Center personal computers, along with streaming video gadgets of every shape and function.
That appeared not to faze Mr. Jobs, who showed off a simple interface for playing video and music on a TV, patterned on the company’s Front Row software.
Mr. Jobs noted that Apple was already in the den with the Macintosh and in the consumer’s pocket and car with the iPod, and was now poised to enter the living room. He said wireless streaming of digital entertainment was the missing piece of the puzzle.
Steven P. Jobs, Apple Computer’s chief executive, concluded a much-anticipated company event on Tuesday with his usual tease, noting that he had “one last thing” to introduce.
Then, in an unusual departure from Apple’s practice of announcing new products when they are ready to ship, he talked about a product due out early next year that will be the company’s first step into the living room. The device, which Apple is calling iTV for now, will plug into a television and wirelessly pull in video and music from a Macintosh computer in the den or from the Internet. The box, which will cost $299, is about the size of a slim paperback novel.
The iTV device places Apple squarely in the consumer electronics market and gives it a way to compete directly with Microsoft and PC industry giants like Dell and Hewlett-Packard, which are also eagerly looking at markets for entertainment beyond the PC screen.
As expected, Apple added movies to its iTunes online store. It will initially offer 75 movies for download from four studios, all owned by the Walt Disney Company, on whose board Mr. Jobs sits. He is also its largest individual shareholder.
New movies will cost $14.99, or $12.99 if preordered or bought within the first week of release; older movies will cost $9.99.
Other movie studios were conspicuously absent from the announcement. Some have resisted the idea of offering movies that can be downloaded, fearing the loss of lucrative DVD sales.
Apple is a late entrant to the living room market, which is already crowded with digital devices that can play video, like the Xbox and PlayStation game consoles and Microsoft-based Media Center personal computers, along with streaming video gadgets of every shape and function.
That appeared not to faze Mr. Jobs, who showed off a simple interface for playing video and music on a TV, patterned on the company’s Front Row software.
Mr. Jobs noted that Apple was already in the den with the Macintosh and in the consumer’s pocket and car with the iPod, and was now poised to enter the living room. He said wireless streaming of digital entertainment was the missing piece of the puzzle.
