Apple unveils video iPod and new iMac

All that speculation that Apple would unveil a video iPod on Wednesday was right.

The company also rolled out a new iMac and a new version of iTunes, iTunes 6, just five weeks after the debut of iTunes 5.

The iPod has "been a huge hit for us, so it's time to replace it," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said as he showed off the new product at a press event in San Jose, California, which was beamed to similar events around the world for gaggles of eager tech journalists.

"Yes it does video," he said. The music players, which come in black or white with a 64mm (2.5-inch) screen, will be available in a 30GB model for £219 and a 60GB for £299. Those are the same prices as current models with the same storage capacities.

Jobs kicked off the event by revealing a new iMac G5 that will be similar to the current model, but thinner. The 17-inch desktop goes for £899; the 20-inch model is £1,199. The iMacs will have a built-in iSight camera with still and video capabilities and a remote for controlling music, photos and video.

At the gathering, Jobs used the tiny white remote control like an oversized iPod Shuffle to play a Black Eyed Peas video and an Incredibles DVD and also to play home movies and photos.

Through the new version of iTunes, consumers in the US -- but nowhere else, for now -- will be able to buy TV shows, in addition to music. Programmes available for purchase one day after broadcast will include ABC television offerings Lost and Desperate Housewives and the Disney Channel's That's So Raven. It will take 10 to 20 minutes to download an episode, said Jobs. Each will cost $1.99 and will be ad-free. The only video content currently available in the UK is 2000 music videos, which cost £1.89 each to download.

The video iPod arrives just one month after Apple unveiled its pencil-thin iPod nano. Company executives said on Tuesday that demand for the nano is strongly outstripping Apple's ability to supply the flash-memory-based music players.

Apple's video device isn't the first to hit the market. Sony currently markets a handheld computer called the Type U in Japan that can be used to watch videos. Consumers can also watch movies (with a tiny Universal Media Disc) on the PlayStation Portable.

Intel and Microsoft, meanwhile, designed a portable media player back in 2002 that some manufacturers brought to market last year. (First it was known as Media2Go and later as the Portable Media Center.) Meanwhile, Samsung and others have released phones that can receive TV signals, thereby allowing commuters to watch programmes on their mobile phones.

So far, though, portable video hasn't been a big seller. The screens on these devices are far smaller than TVs. Video can also sap battery life. Watching TV over mobile signals, some Korean consumers found out, can really rack up bills. (New versions of the mobile phone TVs use a TV tuner card, rather than deliver TV over the mobile network.)

Sony execs, though, recently said that sales of Universal Media Disc movies for the PSP are a little better than expected.

CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos contributed to this report.

Click here to see video of Steve Jobs' presentation.