Business Week does a good job explaining why video is likely to show up on the iPod.

Really, Apple has no choice. Either adopt it or give rivals a chance to at least ungrip a bit of Apple's mythic hold on the minds of our digital society.

Not to offer video would also seem unlikely, especially as the Hollywood set seeks some sort of DRM digital salvation.

For years, Steve Jobs answered questions about a video iPod with a simple line of reasoning.

Watching video is consuming. Out on the road, you can't very well watch a video. Talking on the cell phone while behind the wheel is dangerous enough. But listening to rocking tunes is another matter.

But the issue may not be about video and it inherent distractions. Most people would not watch a video while driving. But what if you could move videos around really easily on your iPod? Your iPod now becomes a video storage device that you hook into the TV.

Your iPod is now in the living room. And Apple continues its reign over digital media.

The inner guts of the iPod don't require too much to make this occur. Business Week notes that chips for displaying video on mobile devices are becoming readily available, making it far easier to manufacture different types of video products. If Apple doesn't adopt some sort of video strategy then its rivals, companies like Archos and Creative, most likely will be using Texas Instrument's Davinci technology or similar chip technology from other manufacturers.

Business Week also notes how advancements in storage technology will make it viable to store huge video files on mobile players.

Just look at the Nano, iPod's new player. It uses flash memory chips. Just after Apple's Nano annoucement, Business Week notes that Samsung unveiled a new generation of flash technology that can hold up to 16 GB of data with the ability to stretch to 32 GB.

And here is more from Business Week:

Hard drives are improving too. Japan's Toshiba has announced it's building small hard drives that use a new storage technique known as Perpendicular Magnetic Recording, which allows data to be packed more tightly and over a smaller area of the disk. Toshiba says it will use the technology on its 1.8-inch hard drives. This could make an 80-gigabyte iPod a reality fairly soon. At 80 GB, you're starting to reach the kind of capacity that can store a sizable music library and still have room left over for plenty of standard-definition video, and even a few hours worth of HDTV-quality video.

So, we're possibly talking about 80 GB hard drives on an iPod.

The technology is there. Now, it's time for Hollywood to come up with a digital distribution model. That may be what is keeping Steve Jobs from making any commitments to a video iPod.

But how long should Jobs wait? As competition creeps, Jobs also faces the challenge of keeping iPod's star power strong.

If he can't do that, then the iPod living room may not be so mobile after all.