Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: September 12th Announcements

A completely revamped iPod lineup, movies for sale, and a surprise future product.

Updated iPod. The "5G" iPod with video now comes in an 80GB model, up from 60GB previously. Both the 30GB and the 80GB models have improved battery life, now at 3.5 and 6 hours respectively (up from 2 and 4 hours). The screen is 60% brighter, and there's a brightness control mechanism. The form factor is otherwise unchanged, squelching rumors of the "true video iPod" with a large screen and touch-sensitive display. The really good news? Prices are down to $249 and $349, from $299 and $399.

Oh, there's now a variety of games you can buy ($5), specifically made for the iPod. Tetris, Pac-Man, and Texas Hold 'Em are among the games available.

Analysis: The battery life improvement and the price cut make this a significantly more attractive product. A 6 hour battery means you can watch two full-length movies on one charge. Nice for those long plane rides. As for game playing, it doesn't make the iPod into a PSP, but it's interesting how the iPod is starting to cross over into other product spaces.

New iPod nanos. The iPod nano lineup is completely new. Similar in size to the old nano (but 0.01" thinner, and 0.09 oz. lighter), the nano now comes in an aluminum (read: scratch-resistant) case, and in multiple colors (similar to the iPod mini). Capacity has been doubled across the line, to 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB, and the screen is 40% brighter. Battery life is improved to 24 hours, up from 14 hours.

The 2GB model comes in silver only; the 4GB model comes in silver, green, pink, and blue; and the 8GB model comes in black only. I think Apple has figured a few things out about using color to up-sell.

And, in a nod to its environmental critics, Apple has reduced the amount of packaging by 52%.

Prices are $149, $199, and $249 for the 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB models, respectively.

Analysis: This is a combination of the two hottest iPods Apple has made, the mini and the nano. These things are going to sell like hotcakes, particularly the 4GB models in the rainbow of colors. And Apple has done a lot to fix every criticism that the nano received.

New iPod shuffle. Okay, this is fun: the iPod shuffle is now the size of a matchbook, and it has a clip built-in, suitable for attaching the iPod to a pocket. It is tiny. It comes in 1GB only, and is $79.

Analysis: This is something you've almost got to buy on principle, because it's so small and handy. Just try not to put it through the washing machine.

iTunes 7. Apple released an update to iTunes, with some new organizational capabilities. You can view albums like you're flipping through a CD rack. (Apple bought out a software package called Coverflow for this.) You can download cover art for all your albums, even for ones you didn't buy from the iTunes store. Video playback is improved. iTunes now supports "gapless" playback, so albums can be played without pauses between tracks. The iPod software updater is now built into iTunes, instead of being a separate application.

Television shows can now be downloaded at 640x480 resolution. (When this was announced, I thought, "surely this is the precursor to another announcement.") And you can now use an iPod to move shows and music between computers authorized on the same music account. Very nice for those of us with multi-computer households.

Analysis: It's a fairly minor upgrade, all in all. The Coverflow feature is neat, but I think the main reason for the upgrade is to support the new iPods and the new store features.

One More Thing. In an announcement that surprised nobody, Apple is now selling movies through the iTunes store. And in line with recent rumors, the only movies available are from the Disney family of studios (Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Miramax, and Touchstone). That's 75 movies for now, with more on the way. Movies are $12.99 in pre-release, or in their first week of availability; other new releases are $14.99, and older titles are $9.99. Compare this to Amazon's Unbox service, where prices range from $8 to $20.

Movies are "near-DVD" quality at 640x480, with H.264 encoding. They're in Dolby surround sound. A "typical" movie is about 1GB, so it would take about 30 minutes to download on a 5Mb/s broadband connection. Again, compare this to Amazon, where a typical movie would take about 90 minutes to download. Amazon movies are 640x480 WMV-encoded files.

DRM is the same as TV shows, meaning you can't burn movies to DVD. So how are you to watch the movies on your home theater setup? Hmm...

Analysis: 640x480 is near-DVD quality for a fullscreen movie, but a widescreen movie is probably 640x426, a fairly significant step down from the 720x480 resolution of a DVD. Will people pay near-DVD prices for near-DVD quality? Hmm.

Yet Another Thing: The thing I've long predicted! It's a wireless device to stream movies from the computer to the TV. Steve Jobs says it's the missing piece of the puzzle.

The product won't come out until early next year. It's codenamed "iTV" (but this name will be changed... surely due to conflicts with ITV in the UK, as well as the EyeTV product from El Gato.) You can stream music, photos, and movies via a Front-Row-like interface. It's got HDMI and component video outputs, and analog and optical digital audio. It'll support wireless networking (of some kind) and Ethernet. There's a USB2 port on it, whose purpose is unknown. The box is about half the size of a Mac mini. The price will be $299.

Analysis: First of all, I wanna say, hooray! Finally, the product I wanted to see. But there are many questions.

Why wait until 2007 to put this out? Probably because Apple is waiting for the 802.11n high-speed wireless networking standard.

Why announce this product now? Probably to let the movie studios know they're serious about this market.

Will this thing support HD? With HDMI and component video outputs, that seems likely, despite the limited resolution of movies downloaded from the iTunes store.

What will happen to El Gato's similar EyeHome product? Even though the EyeHome is cheaper at $199, it'll probably wither away due to the fact that it cannot play DRM'ed music or movies, or H.264 video at all.

What's the advantage of this over a Windows Media Center PC with a Linksys Media Center Extender? It'd be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison when the product comes out. I'd like to think that the Apple solution as a whole will be more seamless and integrated.

Why isn't there TV recording built-in? Probably because it runs counter to Apple's grand strategy.

And what is that grand strategy?

Apple wants you to get all your content a la carte through the Internet. No more broadcast or cable TV, with their bundled packages of channels you don't need. Why would you need to record a TV show in real-time when the content provider already has the show available in compressed digital form, ready to watch when you want it? Don't get me wrong, I would want a DVR bundled in this box too. But I see where Apple is going... the only reason I need a DVR now is because most of my shows are only available on cable/broadcast/satellite. If I could get every show I wanted on the Internet, and I could pay a la carte prices for them, I'd probably ditch my $100/month cable bill and pay $50/month for just the shows I wanted to see.

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