... and so does Steve, with the launch of Apple TV

Steve Jobs stumbled a couple of times, calling it "iTV" - the codename given when the product was flashed before an audience last September - but on Tuesday he finally showed off the "Apple TV". It's a device that will stream content from up to five computers in a house to a high-definition TV set, either through an Ethernet connection or wirelessly using the new (and barely complete) 802.11n standard, which gives data transfers of up to 540 megabits per second over roughly 50m.

The biggest buzz, of course, came with the long-awaited launch of the "iPhone" - which apparently retained that name despite Cisco and its Linksys subsidiary already having a trademark of the same name. That is not due to appear in the UK before the autumn, though its considerable drool factor - a touch- and gesture-controlled phone/iPod/Wi-Fi device - will probably see many Britons visiting the US to buy it for bragging rights alone.

But the Apple TV, with its built-in 40GB hard drive, puts the final piece in place of Apple's "digital hub" concept, first enunciated by Jobs five years ago at the same Macworld venue in San Francisco.

The Apple TV also offers internet connectivity, linking to Apple's site to show film trailers. The US price will be $299, with shipping there planned to start in February; for the UK the price is £199 (including VAT), with shipping also scheduled for February.

The product, though, will face competition in the US from Netgear, which announced a similar product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, while Sling Media announced its Slingcatcher, which will work as a remote receiver for streamed TV sent over the net. In the UK, too, there are already well-placed rivals including British Telecom, with its BT Vision service, which includes a 160GB drive, two digital TV receivers, and video on demand via broadband. Sky, too, has a broadband service which it aims to expand to video on demand.

Meanwhile, with a number of analysts and bloggers having questioned how well the iTunes Store was faring at selling music, Jobs told the Macworld audience that it has sold 2bn songs, and was now the fourth-largest seller of music in the US - ahead of Amazon: "We are now selling over five million songs a day."
