Apple Macs to get Blu-ray drives?

In the yet-to-be-released iTunes 8.2, Blu-ray gets a mention on the 'About iTunes' splash screen.

For those not well-versed in the world of Apple computers, Mac machines currently don't support Blu-ray discs. Although you can install a third-party optical drive in the Mac Pro, you'll still need to boot into Windows to read Blu-ray media. But, if iTunes is going to allow ripping from these discs, we might finally see Macs and MacBooks with fully integrated Blu-ray support and drives.

Back in October, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs famously called Blu-Ray and its licensing process "a bag of hurt", implying that it was too expensive and too complicated for Apple to add Blu-ray drives to Macs. Jobs, however, is notorious for downplaying certain technologies right up until the day Apple includes them in a product, as was the case for years with video-playing iPods.

All this is just speculation for now. But, if there is going to be any announcement of Blu-ray support, it'll probably be at Apple's upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference, held in San Francisco from 8 to 12 June.