Earlier this year Apple announced its much-anticipated movie rental service for US customers of the iTunes Store - complementing its direct movie sales business. But though success in this department has been a far cry from that of its digital music store, the video download market is still expanding... and so is the iTunes Store. Starting today, Apple iTunes movies rentals and purchases are also available for customers in both Canada and the UK.

The two countries will now have access to more than 1,200 films for rent or purchase from all major movie studios, with titles available for purchase on the same day as their DVD release. In addition, more than 200 titles are available in high definition.

Movie purchases in Canada are between $14.99 and $19.99, with rentals between $3.99 and $4.99. In the UK, movies are priced between £6.99 and £10.99, while rentals are £2.49 for library title rentals and £3.49 for new releases. The rentals can be stored for up to 30 days, but once a movie has been started there is a 48-hour window to finish watching it or watch it multiple times.