Apple is back in the news this morning with more salacious tattle. This time, it's none other than the lady in pink herself -- London's
Financial Times -- wagging her tongue about a supposed video rental service due out this autumn from Apple. One studio exec is quoted by the
FT as saying that the service would "compete against cable companies and anyone else offering VOD into the home." The $2.99 downloads would be viewable for 30 days and playable on at least one other device like an iPod or iPhone. No mention of
AT&T's involvement with the service. Nevertheless, we were already wondering what we'd do with all the capacity on Apple's recently updated,
160GB Apple TV. Maybe, just maybe, we'll hear a little somethin' somethin' about this during
Steve-o's keynote later on today. Stay tuned, as they say.
[Via
MacRumors]
It's not clear how much of this is optimistic name-dropping and how much is real, but Australian video retailer Video Ezy (they just bought Blockbuster Australia) has announced that it's in talks with Apple, as well as several other supppliers, on a kiosk-style movie delivery system that would allow customers to download up to 40 movies onto an iPod and then pay as they watch. The system, called eBox, would still require you to actually visit a retail location, a compromise Video Ezy says is required because broadband speeds still aren't high enough to support a pure download model. We can see why Apple would be an attractive partner -- download on your iPod, watch on your Apple TV certainly seems feasible -- but true to form, Apple Australia refused to comment. Looks like we won't know the truth until eBox launches in the second quarter of next year.
