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'We want to set business models, pricing models, distribution models like [Steve] Jobs did for music, but for the film industry,' said Michael Arrieta, senior vice president of Sony Pictures.

Sony will kick off its 'iMovie' (sorry, Apple's taken that name) ambitions by releasing 500 films next year in various formats and not soley through the Movielink venture that it co-owns.

Nonetheless,

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with the industry-leading H.264 codec to be included in Mac OS X 10.4 and QuickTime 7 within the next couple of months coupled with its iTunes track record (not to mention Steve Jobs' other job over at Pixar), Apple appear to be the movies studios best bet if they want a viable online alternative to illegal downloading.

Apple also brings expertise in hardware and software integration, which will be essential in order to bring together the various elements that will make movie downloading a success: from software to PC to set-top-box, PVR or DVD-burner.

The movie industry is desperate to reverse the tide of illegal movie downloading spurred by the proliferation of faster broadband link in the past year or so. It is currently engaged in a legal tussle with peer-to-peer network software providers in an attempt to get the US courts to rule that they are liable for the use of P2P software for illegal purposes. The case reached the US Supreme Court this week.