The Big News in Apple's `Showtime' Press Conference Today

As I see it, the biggest news in Apple's press conference today in San Francisco is that Apple is hard at work on solving the problem of viewing Internet video on a television. The device, iTV, will be available in the first quarter of 2007, and will sell for $299. My assumption is that it will use a WiFi network from Apple (or another supplier) to beam video to a small hard drive on top of a television.

As for downloadable movies, Disney is the only studio working with Apple and iTunes as of today. Interestingly, buying a new release in its first week (or as a pre-order) will cost just $12.99; the cost then goes up to $14.99 for a while.

Here's the News.com coverage ... NY Times ... Wall Street Journal ... and Apple's video from the event. Here's Spymac and The Seattle Times more specifically on iTV.