By Prince Mclean
Published: 12:05 PM EST
Speaking at a Macworld press event in Australia last Wednesday, Apple Computer's Stan Ng reaffirmed his company's stance on an iPod with video-capabilities: don't expect one anytime soon.
News.com.au was
on hand for the briefing, which took place at the Westin Hotel in Sydney, Australia.
"There is no legal way today of taking a DVD and making it viewable on a portable device. There are issues with video, and no infrastructure for acquiring that content," said Ng, now Apple's director of iPod worldwide marketing.
"For a player with a 3 1/2-inch screen, you have to wonder if it would be worthwhile. You can't watch video while you're jogging or mountain biking," he said
"Fundamentally, at a corporate level, we've been clear about our involvement in music and photos - we'll see what happens with video over time,"
At the event, Ng also previewed Apple's new product offerings including the Mac mini and iPod shuffle digital music player, sans display.
"We wanted to create a whole different way of experiencing music with a small player," he said, explaining that the shuffle should be seen as a portable extension of iTunes, where songs are arranged before being transfered to the device.
"A prime example is someone who will use the shuffle for workouts - they want faster music, so they don't want their show tunes to come up," he said.
