Apple, maker of the iPod media player, will sell movies through its iTunes online store the same day they are released on DVD, building on its success as a music retailer.
New releases from studios, including Paramount Pictures and Warner, will cost $14.99, Apple said today in a statement. Previously, customers may have had to wait several weeks after the DVD debut. The service will start with movies such as American Gangsterand Junothis week.
Chief executive officer Steve Jobs is counting on movies to increase sales of iPods, Macintosh computers and Apple TV, a device that lets users watch downloaded films on widescreen televisions.
In January, Mr Jobs said customers had bought seven million movies, missing his expectations. Apple began selling movies and television shows on iTunes in October 2005.
The stock has lost 9.1 per cent this year.
ITunes, with more than six million songs, is already the most popular site for legal music downloads, according to NPD Group in Port Washington, New York. Apple said last month that iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart Stores as the biggest music retailer in the US.
Apple has sold more than four billion songs since opening the iTunes store in April 2003. Apple also offers more than 1,500 films, including 200 in high definition.
Studios already sell older movies for $9.99 each and provide films for rental under a service Apple introduced in January. Apple said today that it has 1,000 movies for rent.
Bloomberg