MacWorld Apple Rumor Round Up: 1/8/08

Intel Penryn chips for mobile computers will start appearing in devices “next week”. That “next week” part - are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Apple Movie rental pricing - $3.99 for 24 hours. Apple is close to signing up various movie studios to video rentals via the iTunes Store, but the rumored pricing seems prohibitively high. The studios are also not into having a movie available for digital download on the same day as the DVD is released (termed “day and date”).
That price point is extremely weak compared to the all-you-can-rent model at Netflix, your local video store, on-demand cable - or the ever-present illegitimate options. I’d be sold at $2 a movie. Here’s hoping Jobs has enough clout to convince the studios to go cheaper. Maybe he should show them this article.
At CES, Samsung announced 128 GB solid state drives that could be used laptops (or other mobile devices) as a hard drive alternative. They’ll be available in the first half of 2008. I’m sure the price point is cost prohibitive though.
Apple announces new MacPro and Xserve. 2 Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz. That Apple announced these updates a week before MacWorld implies the keynote will be filled with more important stuff.
Second, note the absence of a Blu-Ray drive option (it would have made much sense to introduce it with the most expensive Mac). I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that Apple announces something Blu-Ray next week - if only voicing support without a shipping product - especially after Warner Brothers announced Blu-Ray exclucivity and Paramount seems close behind.
More rumors to come, I’m sure.
Disclosure: I own a tiny amount of Apple stock.
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Didn’t know if you had noticed it, but Netflix has now partnered with LG to make a streaming video box for use with their subscriptions. While TiVo can already do this with Amazon UNBOX, the rentals are not on a subscription basis.
Apple is ill prepared to tackle this market, and they should stick to movie purchases rather than rentals. RSJ should focus on next gen IPhones, and allow the AppleTV format to remain a hobby.
OTR guy, I think many agree with you regarding Apple’s difficulty expanding Apple TV. Even for me, the Apple fan, unless the price is competitive with NetFlix it will be a difficult sell.