Movies are the apple of iTune’s eye

Apple’s iTunes is launching its version of downloadable movies.

As part of the launch for iTunes 7, the iTunes online store, No. 15 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide to Retail Web Sites , is now offering over 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Users can now purchase and download movies to watch on their computers and iPods. Movies will become available on the iTunes store the same day they are released on DVD, with new releases priced at $12.99 when pre-ordered and during their first week of availability, and $14.99 thereafter, and library titles available for $9.99 every day.

With iTunes 7, all videos purchased from the iTunes store can be downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640x480, which is four times higher than before, Apple says. ITunes 7 also includes new features, including expanded parental controls, an iTunes video playback window with on-screen controls and a feature that lets users visually browse their video collection by cover artwork.

"In less than one year we`ve grown from offering just five TV shows to offering over 220 TV shows and we hope to do the same with movies,” says Apple CEO Steve Jobs. “ITunes is selling over one million videos a week and we hope to match this with movies in less than a year."

Apple says that the iTunes music catalog now has an inventory of more than 3.5 million songs and has sold 1.5 billion music downloads.