At this year’s Macworld Expo, Apple CEO Steve Jobs outlined a software update for the Apple TV that will enable the devices to operate independently of a computer running iTunes, and enable users to buy and rent video directly from the iTunes store on their televisions. The update was due “in two weeks;” that deadline expired back on Tuesday, and now Apple has announced that the software won’t be available for “another week or two” while it works out some final kinks.
Once available, the new Apple TV software will be available as a free download to Apple TV customers. It will enable users to rent movies from the iTunes store directly from their widescreen TVs using the Apple Remote without first downloading the releases to their iTunes-equipped computer. Apple anticipates over 1,000 movie titles will be available for rental via iTunes by the end of February, with rentals costing $2.99 for library titles, $3.99 for new releases, and a dollar more each for high-definition versions. Once rented, customers will have 30 days to watch the movie, and 24 hours to finish watching it once it’s started.
The Apple TV is available now from Apple, and is priced at $229 for a version with a 40 GB drive, or $329 for a version with a 160 GB drive.
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