Reported dealings with music and film companies lead experts to speculate on an upcoming Apple-branded video player.Though one of Steve Jobs' new mantras is that video doesn't have the same replayability factor as music and hence is less profitable, evidence seems to be pointing toward iTunes selling videos and the release of a new Apple device that plays video.
A handful of music videos have already been available on iTunes, and reports say that Apple has been in talks with music labels Warner Music Group Corp., EMI Group PLC, Vivendi Universal SA's Universal Music Group and Sony BMG about acquiring licenses to sell music videos. The videos will purportedly cost $1.99 to download, and may be available starting in September.
"Selling music videos seems like a pretty safe step for Apple to take," said Nick Ciarelli, publisher of Mac insider site ThinkSecret.
The Business 2.0 blog on Tuesday also reported that Apple is trying to strike a similar deal with Disney, which could include ESPN and ABC News clips and short cartoons, the posting said.
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These quiet moves into video have led analysts to believe that Apple will be releasing an iPod or some other device that's capable of playing video, though Apple remains tight-lipped as usual. Experts have ruminated over the different ways Apple will deal with video content, with some ideas more probable than others.
Paidcontent.org speculated that Apple wants to add video capabilities for personal media management but quickly dismissed it after considering video playback via QuickTime.
Others, including Jobs, have talked about how the current iPod screen isn't ideal for watching videos, which leads to the conclusion that the company will be retooling the iPod to creating something akin to the vPod, a concept iPod published in Business 2.0 Magazine in March.
Read the full story on PCMagazine.com Apple Eyes a Move to Video
