iTunes Movie rentals officially announced

Steve Jobs' Macworld keynote is still going on, but he's already confirmed one feature I've been expecting Apple to announce for more than six months: iTunes movie rentals. The terms are interesting: you rent a movie for 30 days, but you have to watch it within 24 hours of when you begin playing it. Movie rentals will appear 30 days after DVD release, and Apple signed all major movie studies. And of course, that means that Apple TV now has a whole lot more content. Movie rentals are $2.99 and $3.99 depending on the movie.

But that's not all -- Jobs also announced Apple TV2, which works without a PC to host the content on. Apple TV2 can buy content directly from iTunes and also play podcasts, Fickr photos, .Mac photo galleries, etc. Oh, and it supports high-definition and Dolby 5.1 sounds. HD movie rentals are $4.99.

Apple TV may have been a sleeper last year; I doubt it is going to be one this year. Oh, and the best part? The Apple TV2 software is a free upgrade for existing Apple TV owners. That just shows what accrual accounting does for you.

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