Video-Playing iPod Is Expected, As Apple Schedules Another Unveiling

Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, who rejuvenated the computer maker with digital music, may introduce a version of the best-selling iPod device that also plays videos.Apple sent invitations to an October 12 event in San Jose, Calif., that read “One more thing,” a phrase Mr. Jobs often uses in speeches before announcing new products. Apple wasn’t more specific. AppleInsider.com and analysts including Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray speculated that Mr. Jobs may unveil an iPod video player.Such a device, together with the introduction of videos to Apple’s iTunes music service, would underscore Mr. Jobs’s efforts to expand the iPod lineup and boost profit. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company last month added a Motorola phone that runs iTunes and a player dubbed the iPod nano that is the size of a business card.“The portable video market is somewhat similar to what the portable digital music market was like before Apple entered – a couple of different players, relatively low volumes, a plethora of different formats,” said Ross Rubin, an analyst with The NPD Group in Port Washington, N.Y., yesterday. “There’s an opportunity for someone to tie it all together – the software, the hardware, the services, which Apple has shown they are able to do on the music side.”Apple has sold 21.8 million players since Mr. Jobs introduced the iPod in October 2001,with 18 million units sold within the last year. NPD figures show that the iPod is the best-selling music player in America, accounting for 72% of all players sold in the eight months through August.Shares of Apple fell 52 cents to $53.23 at 1:19 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Before yesterday, the shares had risen 67% this year after more than tripling last year.“We would expect a video iPod to have a material ‘wow’ factor,” Mr. Munster of Piper Jaffray wrote in a research note. He rates Apple “outperform.” “A first step into portable video would open the door for future product innovations as the company continues to branch out into more of a central player in digital and mobile convergence.”Apple, which makes Macintosh computers, gets more than a third of its sales from iPod and iTunes products. The company has sold more than 500 million songs and has more than 10 million iTunes account holders, who have bought on average 60 songs each, Mr. Jobs said last month.

Video-Playing iPod Is Expected, As Apple Schedules Another Unveiling

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