Porn Valley- When Apple introduced its video iPod in October, it opened a new territory in personal entertainment.

The company’s iTunes online store already has surpassed 1 million video downloads, and Apple is teaming with ABC to present archived episodes of the popular series “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives” via the video iPod.

But another type of entertainment has become extremely popular, too: Pornography has arrived on the portable screen. It makes the racy, overheated machinations of “Desperate Housewives” look as innocent as “Dora the Explorer.”

According to TVPredictions.com, the first pornographic offerings showed up on video iPods within 24 hours of the product’s launch. Already, the research company Yankee Group of Boston estimates the portable porn market will reach annual revenues of $200 million within four years.

The audience is already waiting: SuicideGirls.com, which offers videos of women with an acute aversion to clothing, registered 1 million video iPod-style downloads.

This should not come as a major surprise.

“We’d be shocked if there’s anybody that is surprised that there’s porn on the Internet or that you can download it,” says Elle Webb, editor of Podcasting News. “We hope that the titillating aspect of adult video podcasting doesn’t distract Hartford readers from the really exciting story of podcasting – that anyone, anywhere in the world, can create an audio or video podcast about whatever they feel passionate about and broadcast it to the world.”

But when it comes to passion (whether genuine or simulated) and broadcasting, the adult entertainment industry has long been in the high-tech forefront. Pornographic film distributors were among the pioneers in creating original material for VHS videos, DVDs, webcasts and Internet video on demand. One can even go back to the 1920s: Stag films were the most popular items when silent 16mm home movie projectors were first sold.

“Adult entertainment professionals typically are early adopters of any new technology,” says Kathee Brewer, editor at large for AVN Online, the Internet version of Adult Video News. “Partly that’s because experience has taught them that people will buy adult entertainment in almost any form, even if it’s not perfect. In addition, adult entertainment entrepreneurs can afford to experiment with new things.

“There’s lots of money in the industry. Adult films typically cost much less to produce than mainstream Hollywood films, so many in the adult entertainment industry invest a good percentage of their profits in research and development.

Not every new idea catches on, of course, but many do in adult entertainment because people in general like `toys.’ And more than you might imagine enjoy erotic entertainment.” Brewer says. “About 50 percent of hotel guests purchase erotic in-room pay-per-view movies, according to a recent survey.”

Apple has not commented about the proliferation of blue material on its video iPods. Its iTunes store does not offer adult videos. But as well-known brands such as Playboy and Penthouse announce plans to pursue downloadable videos like the feisty independent SuicideGirls.com, the prospect of seeing Jenna Jameson on the portable screen certainly won’t hurt iPod sales.

The iPod is “really a tool, like a gun,” says Nate Towne, president of Xanadu Communications, public relations consultants in Portland, Maine. “How it is used is up to the individual.”

Obviously, there are drawbacks to watching porn on a video iPod.

“I would think that sooner or later, the `pocket porno’ machine will get some hapless co-worker in hot water – perhaps during a coffee break or really dull seminar,” says veteran high-tech commentator and ACPress.com editor John Stewart Socha.

“Or what happens when you are sitting on a bus or in a mall or [heaven forbid] anywhere near children while enjoying your newfound toy? And they glance over and find you observing some version of the horizontal mambo?,” he said. “Would it be considered the same as sitting with some explicit centerfold in plain view? Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

Some cities have already outlawed viewing X-rated videos in public. In February, police in Schenectady, N.Y., arrested a man sitting alone in his car watching a porn film on a portable DVD player.

Last month, the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, an industry trade group, announced its member companies would not offer adult programming for portable formats until a new rating system would be enacted.

Even within the adult film world, there is some trepidation. Matt Cassidy, a New Jersey firefighter who stars in and directs videos sold on his MuscleMatt.com website, is still considering videos for the iPod.

“We are talking about it,” says Cassidy, noting that his fans have requested iPod downloads. “However, the only holdback is the law. We are completely compliant with all federal laws regarding our productions and not sure if that [new format] will open up a can of worms.”

Another adult film star and director, Nick Harmon of Queens, N.Y., is also exploring this new market. But Harmon is ambivalent.

“I don’t particularly care to view X-rated movies on iPods because of the small viewing screen,” he says. “But maybe others don’t mind it. I think the best medium for the future will always be video because of the longer-lasting capability and because I still believe it is the most widely used. VHS and DVD will be the better choice because it’s easier for the average person. Most Americans are not computer geeks.”

Socha questions whether this is a solution for a genuine problem: “The core question is really: Why do we need portable porn? Music, yes. A good vacuum flask of coffee, sure. But can’t the `oh baby, baby’ wait until we get home?”