Apple Premieres iTunes Movie Rentals With All Major Film Studios
January 16, 2008
New Apple TV Software Lets You Rent Movies Directly from Your Widescreen TV
MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today announced iTunes® Movie Rentals featuring movies from all the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Users can rent movies for as low as $2.99 and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods*, iPhone™ and Apple TV®. iTunes Movie Rentals launches today and will offer over 1,000 titles by the end of February, including over 100 titles in stunning high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound which users can rent directly from their widescreen TV using Apple TV. iTunes Movie Rentals are priced at $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases, and high definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.
“iTunes Movie Rentals instantly brings great movies from all the major studios directly to your iPod, iPhone, TV or computer—without having to drive to the video store or wait for DVDs to arrive in the mail,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Movie lovers can now discover and enjoy movies as simply and easily as music lovers discover and enjoy music today on iTunes.”
“Apple has created an incredibly easy and innovative way to rent and enjoy movies,” said Jim Gianopulos, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment. “Millions of movie lovers will be able to watch wonderful movies from Fox and the other major studios whenever and wherever they want, be it on their computer, TV, iPod or iPhone.”
iTunes Movie Rentals feature iTunes’ legendary ease of use, which makes discovering and enjoying movie rentals as simple and easy as buying music on iTunes has always been. Once a movie is rented, it starts downloading from the iTunes Store directly to iTunes or Apple TV, and users with a fast Internet connection can start viewing the movie in seconds. Customers have up to 30 days to start watching it, and once a movie has been started customers have 24 hours to finish it—or watch it multiple times.
The all new Apple TV software delivers an entirely new user experience centered around iTunes Movie Rentals, allowing movie fans to rent and watch movies right from their widescreen TV, with no computer required. Users can also view photos from their computers, Flickr and .Mac Web Galleries on their widescreen TV as slideshows or screen savers, and anytime photos are updated on Flickr or .Mac they are automatically updated on Apple TV. Apple TV users can now browse and enjoy the iTunes Store podcast directory of over 125,000 video and audio podcasts, view over 50 million originally created videos from YouTube, or choose from a selection of six million songs, over 600 TV shows and 10,000 music videos to purchase directly from their Apple TV. Purchases downloaded to Apple TV are automatically synced back to iTunes on the user’s computer for enjoyment on their computer, iPod® or iPhone.
Apple TV easily connects to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theater systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analog and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort® 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV now automatically plays all of your iTunes content without setup or management**.
Pricing & Availability
Movie rentals from the iTunes Store for Mac® or Windows require iTunes 7.6, available as a free download immediately from iTunes. iTunes Movie Rentals require a valid credit card with a billing address in the country of purchase. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only and are $2.99 (US) for library titles and $3.99 (US) for new releases, and high definition versions are priced just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 (US) and new releases at $4.99 (US).
The new Apple TV software will be available as a free automatic download to all Apple TV customers later this month. Apple TV, which includes the Apple Remote, is available from the Apple Store®, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price $229 (US) for the 40GB model, and for $329 for the 160GB model. Apple TV requires an 802.11g/n wireless network or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking, a broadband Internet connection and a high definition widescreen TV. iPod games will not play on Apple TV.
Apple Enhances Revolutionary iPhone with Software Update - And its free via iTunes
January 16, 2008
MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today announced a free software update for its revolutionary iPhone™ that allows users to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application*; text message multiple people in one message; create Web Clips for their favorite websites; customize their home screen; and watch movies rented from the new iTunes® Movie Rentals right on their iPhone. With its revolutionary multi-touch user interface and pioneering software, users can easily add significant new features to their iPhone through software updates whenever an update becomes available. New iPhone products shipping from the factory will include the software update and existing iPhone customers will automatically get the update for free when they sync their iPhone with iTunes.
“iPhone doesn’t stand still—we’re making it better and better all the time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve delighted millions of users with this revolutionary and magical product and it’s great to share these improvements with them.”
Maps, one of the most popular and helpful applications on iPhone, has a new interface that is simpler and easier to use and adds incredible new features such as the ability to find your location automatically. With just the tap of a button, iPhone can now triangulate your position using nearby Wi-Fi base stations or cellular towers. You can use this as a starting or ending point for directions or to find local points of interest. The new hybrid map view combines map view and satellite view so you can see major street names overlaid on satellite imagery.
Users can now create Web Clips—icons on the home screen that take you directly to your favorite websites, including to the exact spot you have zoomed into. Web Clips are a great way to easily track websites that you frequently check such as news, blogs, sports sites and movie listings. In addition, users can now customize their home screen by repositioning any of the icons, and even create up to nine different home screens that they can easily flick between.
iPhone’s new software update also adds the ability to send the same SMS text message to multiple people, and iPhone saves a history of your text messages, so with one tap you can send a new message to the same group.
With Apple’s new iTunes Movie Rentals, movie fans can rent movies on their computer, easily and quickly transfer them to their iPhone, and watch them anywhere on iPhone’s gorgeous 3.5 inch screen. Users can also now navigate forward or backward through their movies by chapters, select alternate language tracks and view subtitles, if available.
Apple Announces Time Capsule - Wireless Backup for all Your Macs
January 16, 2008
MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today introduced Time Capsule, a backup appliance that automatically and wirelessly backs up everything on one or more Macs running Leopard™, the latest release of Apple’s Mac OS® X operating system including the amazing Time Machine™ automatic backup software. Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. Simply plug it in, then easily set up automatic wireless backup for every Mac® in your house to a single Time Capsule with just a few clicks. Time Capsule offers the benefits of a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station, and comes in two models: a 500 gigabyte model for just $299 and a 1 terabyte model for just $499.
“Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voila—all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With Time Capsule and Time Machine, all your irreplaceable photos, movies and documents are automatically protected and incredibly easy to retrieve if they are ever lost.”
Built to work seamlessly with Time Machine, Time Capsule lets users wirelessly back up all of the data on their Macs, find lost files and even restore all of their software. In the event a file is lost, users can wirelessly search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it’s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine backup on Time Capsule.
In addition to being the best way to back up a Mac, Time Capsule is also a full-featured Wi-Fi base station with the latest 802.11n technology. Delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, 802.11n* is built in to Apple’s iMac® desktop and the entire Mac notebook line up, including MacBook®, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air. Time Capsule features a sleek design with a built-in power supply and connections to print wirelessly to a USB printer. With Time Capsule, it’s very easy for users to create a secure, wireless network for up to 50 users and set security restrictions such as Internet access limits for children’s computers.
At $299 for a 500GB model and $499 for a 1TB model and a fully integrated 802.11n AirPort Extreme® Base Station, Time Capsule can serve as a backup solution for multiple computers as well as the backbone for a high-speed, 802.11n wireless network, making it effortless and affordable for everyone at home, school or work to protect their digital files.
Additional Time Capsule features include:
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- dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies;
- three Gigabit LAN ports;
- one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port;
- one USB 2.0 port;
- Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; and
- a built-in NAT firewall supporting NAT-PMP for features like Back to My Mac.
Pricing & Availability
Time Capsule will be available in February through the Apple Store®, at Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $299 (US) for a 500GB hard drive and $499 (US) for a 1TB hard drive.
