New screenshots supposedly reveal that Apple is in the process of readying the iTunes Store interface for the iPhone to allow direct download access to movies, TV shows, and music videos. The new capability would be an added convenience for the increasing number of people who watch video on a mobile device, but holes in the story have us holding off on the excitement for now.

The screenshots, posted by Kwame Jones and supposedly sourced from an anonymous "geeky friend," show a toolbar for accessing a list of featured TV shows, movies, and music videos. It also shows places to add artwork for featured movies and TV shows. A progression of UI details added throughout the day suggests the feature is still being developed by iTunes Store developers.

The anonymous friend allegedly discovered the iTunes Store links from an ad that appeared in the Twitter client Twitterfon, which apparently advertised the ability to access the content. Apple may be limiting access to devices running iPhone OS 3.0 beta, as we were unable to verify any of the content shown by the sceenshots in iTunes.app on iPhone OS 2.2.1. It may also explain why Jones' friend feared "the powerful arms of the Apple legal department."

The main reason we are skeptical of this story is because of how this content was discovered. It's highly unlikely that Apple would run ads for such a feature through a network like AdMob—since when does Apple advertise its TV and movie services in anything less than premium spots online? Also, it's unlikely that Apple would create an ad like that this far in advance, knowing that non-Apple-employees have a high likelihood of seeing it. This behavior seems extremely un-Apple-like.

Suspending our disbelief for a moment, having access to movies and TV directly from the iPhone would be an added convenience for users. Currently, the only way to get iTunes Store video content on an iPhone or iPod touch is by downloading it via iTunes on your computer and syncing with your device. This on-the-go access would come in handy, for instance, when you find yourself in a long wait and want to catch up on the latest episode of Dollhouse.