Your favorite TV show … on iPod?
Apple Computer Inc. Wednesday unveiled an iPod capable of playing videos, evolving the portable music player of choice into a multimedia platform for everything from TV shows to music videos.
Videos will now be sold online alongside songs on Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
Citing a groundbreaking deal with ABC Television Group, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said the online iTunes store will sell episodes of hit shows “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” for $1.99 each, making them available the day after they air on TV for viewing on the new iPod’s 2.5-inch color screen.
TV services are available for cell phones, but quality remains substandard.
“It’s never been done before, where you could buy hit TV shows and buy them online the day after they’re shown,” said Jobs whose other company, Pixar Animation Studios Inc., has a long relationship with ABC’s parent, Walt Disney Co.
Competing portable video players have been available for several years, but very little compelling content has been available. Apple’s move comes amid fledgling initiatives to offer original video programming on the Internet.
“This is the first giant step to making more content available to more people online,” Robert Iger, Disney’s CEO, said. “It’s a great marriage between content and technology, and I’m thrilled about it.”
The new video iPod, available in white or in black, will be able to play video and podcasts. A 30-gigabyte version will sell for $299 and a 60-gigabyte, $399. Extra features on both versions include a clock, a calendar, a stop watch and a screen lock.
“It’s really very beautiful and very thin,” Jobs said.
The video iPod will lock TV shows and music videos downloaded from the iTunes store with copy-protection software, just as Apple does for music. But it will also support the MPEG-4 video standard, meaning users could view home movies and other unencrypted videos on it.