Jobs: New iTunes to Support Podcasts

By Ed Oswald | Published May 23, 2005, 12:08 PM

Apple CEO Steve Jobs made an appearance at the Wall Street Journal "D" conference Sunday night and, in normal Jobs style, managed to stay mum on what exactly the Cupertino company is planning to do next. He did, however, detail some coming updates to Apple's software lines.

Chief among the new products is iTunes 4.9, which will be released within the next two months. The latest version of Apple's music software will feature podcast support that will allow users to subscribe and download pre-recorded content without a third-party application.

Apple will also release a tool that could bring podcasting to the forefront by allowing content authors to put their recorded podcasts within the iTunes Music Store.

Although pressed by many to reveal what would be coming next on the hardware side of things, Jobs said nothing. When asked if video was the next step beyond music, he said, "I'll leave the answer to that question to our actions of the future."

Jobs blamed the wireless carriers for the delays in the iTunes phone, saying they had too much power in saying what features could be in cellular phones.

Jobs also talked about buying or producing a TiVo like device, renewing speculation that the company might be interested in purchasing the DVR-maker's assets or bringing to market something similar to the product.

When asked if the iPod was in trouble from competitors who have been feverishly working on an "iPod killer," Jobs answered that some have come close, however, he appeared to not be concerned as the company was working on some "great things."