| There's a new update for Apple's iTunes out today, one that supports iTunes full-screen mode and is 64-bit capable. What does this mean? It's a high-powered iTunes upgrade that can suppport full screen apps and video. The new itunes is for both Apple and Windows users, and since it supports a 64-bit Cocoa-native version of the new OS X 10.7 Lion (also released today), some plug-ins and add-ons may not work with the iTunes upgrade.
I always hate to throw gasoline on an Apple rumor, but I'm going to anyway in the interest of advancing a theory: this is one more thing that points to some sort of Apple-branded TV set coming in the future.
We can already start calling it something like iTV ... Apple's new move into the iCloud positions it to create an Apple TV set as the new product to replace the iPod. Think HDTV, full iCloud ecosystem support ...
Apple's been moving towards video media for years, with movies and TV shows in iTunes, not to mention their Apple TV experiment. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster called this out earlier this Summer and the idea of an iTV seems like an evolutionary step for Apple. They've always been about the hardware, supported by their ecosystem of software products.
This is also supported by a recent item at DailyTech, with a "former Apple executive" telling them that "You'll go into an Apple retail store and be able to walk out with a TV. It's perfect."
The Apple TV set could replace the Apple TV box, a move that's already been done by Google with their TV offering. Google TV is being offered through a variety of manufacturers, and an Apple TV set would follow nicely inline with Apple's long-held strategy of making its own hardware. The Apple TV would support the Apple ecosystem in its new iCloud phase, much like iTunes supported the iPod and iPhone era.
At the same time, Apple anounced its new Thunderbolt display today, a sleek new kind of technology that uses Apple's new Thunderbolt technology to allow users to connect a FaceTime® camera, high quality audio, Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire® 800, USB 2.0 and Thunderbolt ports. More new display technology is slowly rolling out from Apple.
“The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the ultimate docking station for your Mac notebook,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With just one cable, users can dock with their new display and connect to high performance peripherals, network connections and audio devices,” said Apple in a press release.
Apple has been talking to movie studios as long as two years ago, in an attempt to license movies for iCloud storage. This could mean files that a user already owns (legal or not) and not just iTunes-purchased movies.
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