Movie rentals, slim computer highlight speech by Apple's Jobs

Downloadable movie rentals,an ultra-slim computer,and GPS-like location ability for iPhones and iPod Touch devices were in Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs's bag ofgoodiesintroduced Tuesday at the company's Macworld conference in San Francisco.

Apple'schief executive officer also discussedthemore than 1,000 titles immediately available through the company's iTunes storein the United States.

Other countrieswillfollow later this year, he said in a speech at the annual conference. Apple last month finally announced that television episodes would be available for download over the iTunes store in Canada.

Althoughthe iTunes store has now sold four billion songs, seven million movies and 125 million television episodes, it has performed below the company's expectations,Jobs said.

Apple thus added rentals from Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, New Line, Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal andSony in an effort to spur iTunes sales.

He said the movies can be watched 30 seconds after they start downloading. Customers have 30 days to start watching their download and 24 hours to finish. Themovies can be watched on a computer, iPod, and the new and improved Apple TV, which will now be able to handle DVD-quality films and high-definition video.

Jobs said that so far, technology companies have been unable to effectively transfer downloaded video from the computer and onto the flat-panel television in the living room.

"We've all tried, and we've all missed," Jobs said. "So we're back, with Apple TV, Take 2."

New release rentalswill sell for $3.99 U.S., older titles for $2.99 U.S. and HD versions for a dollar more. Apple TV owners will also be able to rent movies directly on their device, rather than going through their computer. Users of the device will also be able to buy television episodes and music directly through Apple TV. All of the new capabilities will come through a software update downloaded onto the device, which will be available in two weeks. The price of the Apple TV is also being lowered to $249.

Heavy on thin computer

Jobs also introduced the Macbook Air, or what he called the "world's thinnest notebook." The laptop is less than two centimetres at its thickest partand can fit in an envelope, he said.

The computer has a 1.6 GHz standard Intel Core 2 Duo processor, with a 1.8 GHz option, and comes with an 80 gigabyte hard drive or a 64 GB solid-state drive option. It has a 13.3-inch display with a full-size keyboard, both of which are LED backlit.

The computer has no CD or DVD drive, but its software allows it to connect to another machine's drive and "borrow" it.

The Macbook Air will be available in two weeks and will sell for $1,899.

With the iPhone, Jobs said thedevice has sold fourmillionunits since itsdebut 200 days ago, or 20,000 a day. That has translated into 19.5 per cent of the smartphone market, second behind Research In Motion's BlackBerry, he said.

Numerous new features were unveiled for the iPhone, including Google Maps with location detection, the ability to text message multiple people and customize the home screen, including website bookmarks. Jobs said the Maps feature is a partnership between Apple, Google and Skyhook Wireless, which finds where the user is by detecting the wireless access point their iPhone is connecting to through triangulation.

The new features will be free for iPhone owners, and will also be included in all new iPod Touch devices, which use Wi-Fi for the Maps location ability. Existing iPod Touch owners will have to pay $20 for the new features, however.

Jobs also announced the availability of Time Capsule, a "backup appliance" that looks like a Mac Mini or Apple TV. The device connects wirelessly to a notebook and backs up the data stored on it. The Time Capsule will ship in February and will sell for $329 for a 500-gigabyte version, or $529 for a terabyte of memory.

The content of Jobs's speech is hotly speculated upon each year before Macworld begins.

RBC Capital Markets analysts Mike Abramsky recently suggested that the Apple CEO would announceCanadian availability of the iPhone, but Jobs did not mention any international expansionfor the device.

Other analysts had speculated thatJobs would announce aniPhone that downloads data faster, but he disappointed on that front as well.