Apple Steps Into the Movie Rental Ring

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4027' target='_blank'>http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4027</a><br /><br /></div><i>"With the lion's share of the market in digital music downloads and a portable video player that has become so recognizable even your grandmother knows what an "iPod" is, Apple officially threw its hat into the movie arena with the announcement of movie downloads from the iTunes store in mid-September - and retail juggernaut Wal-Mart couldn't be unhappier about the news. BusinessWeek's Robert Grover reports that Apple plans to begin offering full-length movie downloads via iTunes beginning in September. New releases will be sold for $14.99, and older films for $9.99 - an increase from Job's initial hope of a flat-rate $9.99 per film. Movies will be protected under a similar FairPlay-style agreement, where users are permitted to play the content on a limited number of devices. The ability to record to DVD will likely be provided as well."</i><br /><br />We knew this was coming, but I have to say I'm a bit surprised at the cost - though there are no details about how the FairPlay will work. Will it be like a DVD purchase, allowing you to keep the movie as long as you want? At that price it would have to be, wouldn't it? Yet somehow I don't want to assume anything, because one never knows. Now, obviously there are advantages to going digital here, but given the cost of DVDs in the stores (especially older ones in the $10 range), I'm a bit dubious as to whether or not these are going to sell well. Still, it's a big step for Apple, and given their tremendous market share with iTunes, the industry will feel this movement.

[randalllewis]

This will undoubtedly be crowned THE NEXT BIG THING by the main stream media, but really, is it?

$14.99 to download a movie to play on a teensy iPod screen or burn to a DVD. I can buy the same movie on DVD for $14.99, get all the extras (some good, some crap) and the box art and and then convert it for use on my Zen Vision (with its bigger screen) if I want. The effect is the same but I wind up with more for the same price.

And of course, because it's Apple, iTunes movies will only play on Apple machines. No thanks.

[Jason Dunn]

And of course, because it's Apple, iTunes movies will only play on Apple machines. No thanks.

Well, no, I would think they'd play on any PC with iTunes as well. What would be really interesting is if they made a Media Center plugin! But they won't of course. I wonder what the resolution will be? If it's less than NTSC DVD resolution (720 x 480) then that's sure not cool...

[randalllewis]

Jason as always adds clarity to the issue. My crack at Apple was unclear. The movies probably will play on PC's, I meant that they would only play on Apple's portable players.

[Jason Dunn]

I meant that they would only play on Apple's portable players.

Oh, yes, that's quite certain. And, it's interesting, in the portable video player market, I don't think Apple has a commanding lead (because none of their products were specifically designed for video). It will be interesting to see what happens here...I think that, for feature-length movies, most people will opt to use their laptop or PC to watch...if at all, because generally I find a couch and big-screen TV much nicer. ;-)

[Vincent Ferrari]

One thing to keep in mind is that Apple doesn't need to even make money on the movie store right off the bat. They can break even or even lose money for a bit and the installed user base is still going to carry them until they get it all figured out. It won't be the kind of situation where if they don't get it right straight away, they're guaranteed to fail. They'll just throw it out there, promote it, and let it kinda happen I imagine. No panick for a bit.

If you remember, lots of people have doubted Apple already.

"No one is going to pay $0.99 per song after Napster was giving people music for free."

They did.

"No one is going to pay $1.99 for a music video."

They did.

"No one is going to pay $1.99 for an episode of a television show."

They did.

And finally, "No one is going to watch television shows and music videos on that tiny little screen."

They are.

Having this much of a lead in their installed base gives them lots of flexibility that other companies don't have. Either way, we're going to see lots of people take notice here, I'm sure. Frankly, I love the idea of an easily available library of movies I can throw on my iPod and watch on the train and I don't own a buttload of DVD's so this would be ideal for me. Yeah it's a bit pricey, but frankly I have a shelf full of regular DVD's I never even watch so paying just about the same for the movie when I know I'm gonna actually watch it (mainly because I'll have the time) is fine with me.

I'm more interested in the co-launch of a new iPod than the store itself, to be honest.

[Jason Eaton]

Okay, I like rumors and speculation.

With the previous months patents on input/output displays, filings for stroke motions on the screen, and job postings for gesture interfaces... add that to this annoucement, and gadget freak that I am, it says to me on the video download day we see a new video ipod where the entire screen is the interface. Something in the 4.3 inch range...

Maybe I just want that to be true. :D