This is a compelling model, placing the equivalent of a completely automated Blockbuster video store in a few square feet at, say, The Gap or any other retailer that doesn`t presently have a competing video sales operation. The video-enabled iPod becomes the vessel for transporting movies from store to home and of course they don`t have to be returned. Apple, meanwhile, can sell iPods to people who like movies but don`t typically carry their music with them -- a whole new class of iPod customers.

For now, of course, this can be done only with the new iPods, but it wouldn`t surprise me if at some point older iPods gained this digital vessel capability, minus the screen.

It wouldn`t surprise me, either, if we see DVDstation kiosks appearing in Apple`s 100-plus retail stores.``

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