iPhone is here

If you haven't already heard, Apple anounced two versions of the much anticipated iPhone. Following the introduction, Apple stock rose $7.10, or more than 8%, to end the trading day at $92.57 a share.

Two versions, a 4 gig model for $499US and 8 gigs for $599US will be available in June. The oxymoronic 3.5-inch widescreen display works the cell phone, music player, e-mail device and video player. The problem right now, to use the VCR analogy, is that this is VHS and everything else is just Beta. iTunes is now the largest online video store in the world with over 1.3 million full-length films and 50 million TV episodes sold to date.

In December NBC Universal TV Group's Jeff Zucker boasted that, while the major networks are losing viewers, his company will end 2006 with as much as $400 million in revenue from its digital operations -- and that's expected to soar to $1 billion by 2009. He explained how: "The week after a new prime-time hit show like Heroes is on NBC, it repeats twice on the Sci-Fi Channel. The next morning, it airs on NBC.com. It plays there free with advertising. Then it's available for sell-through on iTunes."

Also shown at E3, the previously named iTV streaming media device now called Apple TV. The $299US living room gadget allows users to wirelessly play audio and video content from a Mac or PC on a television. (Shipping starts in February.) It will have a 40GB hard drive (for up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each).

Also announced on iDay -- Paramount Pictures announced the debut of its movies for $9.99 purchasing and downloading on the iTunes Store.