As Apple retools new video iPod, release rolls back

April 16th, 2006, 09:57 Posted By: wraggster

The roll-out of Apple's forthcoming video iPod has been delayed substantially after the company encountered problems with the display and touch-screen interface, Think Secret has learned. As late as early February plans were in motion for Apple to deliver the most innovative iPod to date in April, possibly a tie-in with its 30th birthday, sources said. Instead, Apple's birthday came and went without fanfare.




Think Secret disclosed in early February Apple's true video iPod intentions, which include a wide-screen display spanning the entire front of the iPod with a touch screen interface that is being billed by Apple as a "virtual track wheel." At that time Think Secret had been tracking a late March or April release.

Sources speaking on condition of anonymity say issues emerged with the technology that have sent Apple and the display's manufacturer back to the drawing board to find a solution. As such, a more definitive release date is unknown at this time, but sources say Apple expects the new iPod to be ready by calendar Q4, in enough time for the holiday buying season.

It remains unclear whether Apple is planning a smaller update to the current iPod, which was introduced six months ago, in the interim.

The larger, widescreen display will deliver an improved video viewing experience and herald the arrival of feature-length movie sales as the iTunes Music Store. In hindsight, the fact that Apple remained so far from striking a deal with two leading Hollywood movie distributors, as Think Secret reported in March, suggests the company might have been aware of technological problems facing the new iPod at that time and saw no need to aggressively push for an agreement.

Multiple sources have stressed that Apple will not launch the video iPod without a movie agreement in place, and that a movie store will not open without the video iPod. The impasse in negotiations lies in the terms of sale: Apple wants to sell movies affordably a-la-carte as it does with music, but Hollywood wants a subscription deal.

In the last month, both Cinemanow and MovieLink started selling more Hollywood titles, including brand new releases, in addition to the already established Vongo service. None of the three services are compatible with Mac OS X, however, and sources say Apple was unaware of the Cinemanow and MovieLink deals. Cinemanow bills itself as "the #1 legal movie download store" and sells movies a-la-carte, but for the same price, if not higher, in some cases, than actual DVDs, killing part of the incentive for purchasing a digital download.

http://www.thinksecret.com/news/0604videoipod.html

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