Apple has scheduled a press conference on September 1st in San Francisco where the company will use the event to make at least three major announcements.
The first announcement will be that iTunes users will be able to rent TV episodes provided by content providers for $0.99 per episode for a two day period.
The content will be served without advertisements, but the content will only be available for only a two-day period.
The content will become available in iTunes one day after the television broadcast date.
Users would be able to watch the shows on their iPhone or iPad devices during the rental period.
Rumored content providers include ABC, NBC, NewsCorp, and Fox, which will include many popular prime-time shows, including “Lost”, and “Family Guy”, among other popular shows.
This new direction from Apple will help solidify its market position as chief rivals such as Netflix Inc. expand their delivery capabilities across more mediums such as direct streaming from the top gaming platforms such as Microsoft’s X-box 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming console.
The second big announcement: Apple is expected to unveil the next generation iPod Touch, that is expected to be the same as the iPhone 4 in all aspects, but it is unknown of the device will also include the front-facing camera and FaceTime support.
The third announcement the company is expected to make is that it would offer Apple TV for $99, which could be used to stream content, including the TV show rentals from iTunes, directly to your home theater system.
The Apple stock (NASDAQ:AAPL) is trading down half a percent at $238.8 per share with three-hours remaining in today’s trading session.