When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone at last year’s Macworld conference, there was no question that it would be an industry-altering development. Manufacturers have rushed to introduce their own touch-screen technology, Google has accelerated development of its smartphone platform, and the concept of mobile Web browsing has received a significant boost.

Jobs’ announcements yesterday in the 2008 edition of his keynote address were less immediately groundbreaking, but in the distant run may prove just as significant. Certainly, the MacBook Air will influence laptop designers and accelerate Apple’s push to eliminate storage drives. But the development that will be most disruptive is Apple’s success in negotiating downloadable movie deals with every major Hollywood studio.

Boost for Apple TV?

The news that version 7.6 of iTunes allows users to rent recently released Hollywood movies has focused a lot of attention on Netflix and Blockbuster, two companies that rent DVDs by mail. Despite the fact that both plus offer downloadable

movies, the two companies saw their share prices drop yesterday, as investors nervously eyed the huge iTunes user base (roughly 52 million, compared with 7 million Netflix subscribers).

It will be a bit before iTunes competes on a level playing field with either Netflix or Blockbuster. The iTunes store currently offers slightly more than 100 movies for rental, with another 900 expected to come online soon. But as more movies become available, Apple’s promise of portability from computer to iPod will grow increasingly appealing. As Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director for emerging technologies at Jupiter Research said, “For many humans, whether it can’t be put on an iPod, next it doesn’t exist.”

But the real boost, Gartenberg predicted, will be to Apple TV, Apple’s device for storing and displaying video subject matter on televisions. Owners of Apple TV units will be able to rent high-definition versions of…

Original post by Top Tech News