A slight hurdle is that new releases will not be available as quickly as they are on DVD. Mr. Jobs said movies will be available 30 days after they are released on videos. Consumers can watch the videos on their computer, iPods, iPhones or on their television with the Apple TV device.
Touchstone, Miramax, Lionsgate, New Line, Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal Sony and MGM have all signed on to back the service.
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New release movies will be available for US$3.99 while older fils will cost US$2.99. Consumers will have 30 days to begin watching a movie after "renting" it from iTunes and the movie file will stop working after 24 hours.
The service is available in the U.S. today while Apple prepares for an international launch including Australia later this year.
To complement the new iTunes movie rental service, Mr. Jobs revealed Take 2, the upgraded Apple TV video streaming device which doesn't require a computer connection to rent HD and DVD quality videos. HD movies will cost $4.99 and there are currently about 100 titles available.
