Apple’s Showtime Showdown: Ongoing Coverage.

Mac360 presents special, continuing update coverage of Apple’s “It’s Showtime” Special Event. Apple has announced new iPods and iPod games.

Apple is expected to announce movies at the iTunes Movie Store, and new iPods, and “One more thing...”

Remarkably, Mac360’s resident blonde was left off the guest list of this stellar event. I’m sure that’s a temporary oversight on Apple’s part.

Showtime began at 10:00 AM PDT.

10:08 am - new iPods with brighter color displays, 60-percent brighter, 3.5 hours of video playback, new headphones.

10:12 am - iPods with video in 30 gigabyte and 80 gigabyte capacity for $249 and $349, respectively.

10:14 am - games for iPods; will work only on 5G iPods. Can download games from iTunes for $4.99.

10:16 am - new iPod nano in colors; green silver, black, blue. 2 gigabyte model is $149 in Silver, 4 gigabyte model is $199 in all colors except black, 8 gigabyte model is $249 in all colors. iPod nano comes with new charger design.

10:18 am - new iPod shuffle is now $79 for 1 gigabyte model, smaller size.

10:24 am - new iTunes version 7 today, with free cover art, separate libraries for all media forms, different views of iTunes, new organization.

10:30 am - higher resolution encoding for TV shows; now 640x480 instead of 320x240. All video encoded as H.264. iPod content can now be syncrhonized to another Mac or PC.

10:38 am - Movies. Movies on iTunes Movie/Music Store include Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, Miramax, and others. 75 movies to start, more to be added each week. Priced from $12.99 to $14.99, regular library movies at $9.99.

Near DVD quality at 640x480 resolution. Movies are streaming, so can be viewed while downloading. International catalog of movies to follow next year.

10:54 am - “One more thing...” Apple announces a set top box that looks like a Mac mini. Wireless, flat design similar to Mac mini only half as thick (or, is that twice as thin?), will be introduced in Q1 2007 with new version of Front Row. Plays movies, TV shows, music from your Mac or Windows PC via wireless connection, and using iTunes 7.

Temporary name of wireless box is iTV. Priced at$299, the box contains USB, Ethernet, 802.11 wireless, optical audio, component video, HDMI ports for LCD TVs, controlled by Apple Remote.

Steve Jobs concludes with a tribute to the “Windows Everywhere” campaign of yesteryear. Apple is everywhere.” Living room, car, pocket.

That’s scary.

Details and analysis to come later today.

Don’t forget our own Mac360 predictions. We’re out on a limb and willing to compare the reality of Steve’s Showtime with our own cloudy, murky, and broken crystal ball.

No Apple-branded TVs, no touch-screen iPods, no list of major movie studios, so no major suprises (games on iPod is a small surprise). Not bad.

If we remember, the iPod started slowly, only on the Mac and progressed rapidly to iTunes Music Store, then to Windows PCs with iTunes, and the growth has continued.

We should expect the same to take place with movies in Apple’s new living room.