“Apple and Wal-Mart are in discussions over an alliance that could allow the giant retailer to profit from iTunes video downloads, which have been a source of great tension between Hollywood and the retailer in recent months,” Michael Learmonth reports for Variety.
Learmonth reports, “A deal could take the form of a digital download ‘coupon’ that would allow consumers to buy movies, TV shows or music on iTunes with Apple paying the retail giant a percentage of the proceeds, one industry insider said.”
Learmonth reports, “What’s in it for Apple? Since studios (except for Disney, of course) have so far turned a cold shoulder to iTunes because of Wal-Mart’s demands, the computer giant would then gain access to titles from every major. Wal-Mart is one of the nation’s biggest sellers of iPods.”
“Studio sources say the rest of the majors are very close to joining Disney in a deal with Apple but are holding off until the end of the key fourth quarter, when half of all DVD sales occur,” Learmonth reports.
Full article here.
Related articles:
Wal-Mart: we’re not fighting iTunes Store movie downloads – September 23, 2006
Wal-Mart threatens retaliation against Hollywood studios if they sell movies via Apple’s iTunes – September 22, 2006
Wal-Mart loses ‘philosophical argument’ with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, gains top-selling iPod – November 29, 2005
Say it isn’t so!
Apple should not succumb to the demands of the evil empire that is know as Wal-Mart.
Choose you partners wisely Apple. Wal-mart is fundamentally and morally corrupt.
“What’s in it for Apple?” A LOT. If wal-mart had big posters telling people to go download movies from iTunes, it would go a long distance in solidifying iTunes Movie business.
Now, watch how the MDN readers’ opinions change! Now they love Wal-Mart, I am sure!
Seriously though, capitalism is one of the greatest inventions in the history of man.
f@*k wallmart, the studios will fall in fine, theyre just greedy, so when they see how well disney is doing off it, the logical step is to follow
RC,
Giving lower income american families products and goods for amazingly low prices, often times saving them thousands of dollars over the course of a year is NOT corrupt! You hippies, of all people, should understand the value of helping the poor.
Get over yourself. Apple is a business and they are in business to make money. They aren’t in the morality business.
db,
Wal-mart IS NOT HELPING THE POOR or anyone but themselves.. “Low-cost has a VERY high price.
This would be HUGE!! Talk about legitimizing iTS and making it the major player. iTS is big now, a deal with Wal-Mart would make it dominate.
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RC,
Giving lower income american families products and goods for amazingly low prices, often times saving them thousands of dollars over the course of a year is NOT corrupt! You hippies, of all people, should understand the value of helping the poor.
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That’s the most frelling naïve and stupid thing I’ve read all day.
Your vision is as through a pinhole.
This sounds like a mob job… the big fat mob boss says he wants his cut from you just because he’s the big boss… Wal-Mart is dirty.
Sorry … as a small business owner working my prverbial a$$ off, I choose not to go to Wal-Mart. I would rather give my hard earned cash to someone who deserves it. Even Target is better.
The high cost you are talking about is probably mostly directed at ‘low wages’. However, if you had a basic understanding of free market system or supply/demand you would realise this for the farse that it is. Bottom line? Employees are welcome to search for a better job, with more pay, elsewhere!
Regardless, having several thousand people working for less than ideal pay is hardly comparable to MILLIONS of people saving THOUSANDS of dollars per year on basic goods.
Wal-Mart is a publicly held company, RC; consequently, their first duty is to their shareholders to maximum profit at any and every (legal) opportunity.
Obviously you were educated in the state-run public education system, whose first duty is to expand the teachers’ union and disparage big business at every opportunity. (I KNOW this to be true, for I taught in the Colorado public school system for 25 years.)
Do you own your own business, RC? Or are you an employee of some capitalist enterprise? If the latter, get on board, dumbass, and invest in the future . . . not the mom-and-pop past.
Or . . . if you really want to fight Wal-Mart, join a consortium of small business owners and COMPETE! Offer better, more personalized service or something Wal-Mart doesn’t! They’re not omnipotent, just better managed than the “It’s A Wonderful Life” you fantasize about.
Until you socialists take over the USA as you have most of the rest of the world, you’re stuck with American business know-how. Save your pennies, RC, and invest in it!
Making deals with the devil.
midlothian,
Well said. Hippies, take note! It is all about what the consumer wants.