Apple To Debut 'HD+', iTunes Movie Service this year

AppleInsider reports that Apple may be preparing to begin supporting 1080p movies in its iTunes Store later this year, based on reports of film studios submitting films to Apple in a new "HD+" format at the higher resolution.

Thus far, 1080p HD content has largely eluded users of Apple products, with HD versions of videos on the company's digital download service maxing out 720p (1280x720) and chief executive Steve Jobs balking at adoption of Blu-ray on Macs due to licensing complications and other challenges that he said threatened to translate into a "bag of hurt." 

But that could begin to change later this year, as a handful of feature films being submitted to the iTunes store for a release in the September and October timeframe are being sent with documentation for an optional 1920x1080 resolution, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to the source, at least three of the five largest movie studios have submitted titles scheduled for fall releases with optional resolutions of 1920x1080 at average bitrates of 10 Mbps. 


The report's sources also point to rumors of an updated 1080p-capable Apple TV, which lines up nicely with increased 1080p support in iOS 5, which is due for release around the same September timeframe. Those improved capabilities were noted last month to have opened the door to a true 1080p Apple TV. 

Apple is said to have the capability to stream 1080p video already in hand, but that the company remains concerned that many users' personal connection speeds aren't yet high enough to support streaming of the "HD+" content without significant buffering time. 

In order to address that issue, Apple could offer the 1080p only for downloadable movie content, although that would be incompatible with the simplicity of the Apple TV, which offers only limited storage space for caching purposes and otherwise streams all content. Alternatively, Apple could make the 1080p content available for streaming only if a user's connection is determined to be fast enough to support the bandwidth.

76% of iPhone owners plan to use Apple's iCloud, 30% interested in iTunes Match

Mike Abramsky, analyst with RBC Capital Markets, revealed on Monday the results of a new proprietary survey of 1,500 respondents conducted between June 7 and 14. The poll found that 76 percent of iPhone users said they are "very" or "somewhat" likely to use Apple's iCloud service, which would amount to 150 million users.


If Apple were to have 150 million iCloud users, it would be competing with services like Google's Gmail, at 200 million users, Yahoo, with 300 million registered users, and Twitter, also at 300 million.

iCloud was unveiled earlier this month at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. The free service will become available this fall, replacing Apple's existing MobileMe product.

The survey also found 73 percent of iPhone users indicated they are "very" or "somewhat" likely to use iMessage, Apple's new proprietary chat service, similar to Research in Motion's BlackBerry Messenger. Abramsky said the results show Apple is likely to enhance the loyalty of existing iPhone users, as well as its 60-million-plus iPod touch users.

"Because it stores user data, iCloud, along with iTunes is expected to enhance loyalty and stickiness of Apple's customers, helping defend against threats from Android, helping grow a defensible install base of users who continually upgrade to next generation Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPods," Abramsky wrote.

In addition, the survey also found that 30 percent of iPhone users said they are either "very" or "somewhat" likely to spend $24.99 on the new iTunes Match service. Through iTunes Match, Apple will scan a user's library of songs, including those ripped from their own CDs, and match the tracks up with the library of 18 million songs available through iTunes, even upgrading them to high-quality 256Kbps AAC audio files.

Abramsky said the survey suggests that Apple could earn a "nominal" $1.5 billion per year in revenue, or 1 percent of annual revenue. Assuming that the gross margins associated with iTunes Match are around 10 percent, which is in line with iTunes content sales, he would also expect the service to have a nominal impact on Apple's earnings per share.