Sunday, October 16, 2005

Steve Jobs had some 'splain-in' to do. He's spent the last couple of years insisting that no one wants to watch video on the puny screens in handheld devices. But last week Apple's charismatic CEO introduced the fifth generation of his monstrously popular iPod. And this one... does video. It will screen your home movies, music videos and TV shows downloaded from the iTunes store (we'll get to that bombshell in a second). Though the screen is bigger than the one on the previous 'pod, it's still tinier than a standard Post-it note. What gives?

Jobs's plan to sell music videos, short films from his Pixar studio and television shows is, as he humbly says, "a plate-tectonic shift" in the media business ... "You don't approach new things in a timid way—you go for it," he says.

A couple of weeks ago, Jobs tested the 2.5-inch iPod screen himself with an episode of "Lost." The verdict? "It's not bad," he says.