“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.
—
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.
—
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.
Alliances can be good. It’s all about marketing. Problem is we here have tunnel vision at times. We’re all about style and integrity. Unfortunately, style and integrity doesn’t always pay the bills. Better Apple than Microsoft ally with the largest retailer in the nation. I’m for it.
“You hippies, of all people, should understand the value of helping the poor.”
I think it’s funny how so many so-called republicans* have been brainwashed by the Neo-cons into thinking that ANYONE who sees a corporation as being morally bankrupt as being a ‘hippie’.
Helping the poor?!?! LOL thats a good one. People are poor because they have jobs that don’t even pay them a living wage, that they can’t support their families. Just the kind of jobs Walmart provides. Low paying minimum wage jobs.
Try living on $12,000 a year.
-signed
non-hippie
* = if you aren’t a millionaire you aren’t really a republican, you just want to be and wish you were.
db,
Walmart needs to be stopped they are destroying good companies. I purchased a vacume cleaner from them and a plastic part broke inside. I went to get it fixed (because walmart would not help) and the dealerthat fixed it sells the same vacume but for $50 more. Well needless to say the delears vacume has metal parts and walmart has plastic. It cost me $50 to get it fixed. Walmart makes people think they are getting a deal when actually they are getting a pile of junk. The problem is when people finally figure this out all the mom and pop stores will be closed.
Walmart: The Evil Empire…
Let me start out by saying that I am not completely anti-capitalism. I think if a business is run well, with a product that people want to pay for, that business should prosper and grow.
I also believe that employers should act responsibly toward their employees. Share holders and CEO’s may have their place, but a few should not be allowed to become wealthy on the backs of the many people struggling just to survive.
I think what WP said about walmart representing the worst of what America is is true. We (as a large “powerful” nation) have the capability to do so much good, yet we have 37 milllion citizens who live below the poverty line (that’s as of 2004 so it is probably even higher today). Again, as of 2004 46 million Americans were without health insurance. We as a nation seem to be closing our eyes to the people right here on our own soil who are not making it, and it is only going to get worse if we continue living the way we do.
Do I blame walmart for all of these problems? No, but I do believe that Walmart and other big box stores (yes, I do think other big box stores are also bad, but walmart is the biggest, and therefore the “baddest”) share a large part of the problem. Getting rid of all the big box stores would not solve everything, but it would be a good start.
What’s Wrong With WalMart?
In 2004, there was a report released by the Committee on Education and the Workforce (of the US House of Representatives). The report said that low wages at walmart end up being subsidized by federal taxpayers because the walmart wage is not a living wage (and I would say that this applies to any store which does not pay a living wage).
“A typical Walmart Store with 200 employees cost federal taxpayers $420750 per year…in the following ways:
$36000 a year to pay for free and reduced lunches for walmart families
$42000 a year in housing assistance
$125000 a year in federal tax credits and deductions for low income families
$100000 a year for additional child tax credits
$108000 a year for federal health care costs of moving into state children’s health insurance programs
$9750 a year for additional costs of low-income energy assistance
Now, I completely support government programs to help those who are needy, but I don’t support big businesses getting wealthy while employees are being supported by the government. You might say that the employees should get more education and find better jobs so that they didn’t have to work at walmart. I would tell you that that is a very egocentric view of the world. You or I, or anyone reading this post might be in a position where getting a good education and looking for a decent paycheck is standard. That’s just what we do, because that’s what our parents did. That’s the kind of life we were taught to work for. Not everyone is so fortunate, so to apply our natures onto everyone is not realistic. Not everyone lives the kind of life where higher education is considered. You live the way you are taught to live, and very few people have the wherewithal to overcome their lifestyle-imposed limits.
Walmart sells cheap stuff. The cheap stuff has to come from somewhere. According to a frontline PBS documentary, As the single largest customer to most of its suppliers, Wal-Mart openly uses its bargaining power to negotiate lower prices from suppliers. Specifically, in its negotiations with suppliers, Wal-Mart requires that prices go down from year to year. If a vendor does not comply with Wal-Mart’s request for reduced prices, they risk having their entire brand removed from Wal-Mart’s shelves in favor of a lower-priced competitor or a less expensive store brand. This can put pressure on suppliers to shift jobs to factories in third world countries or reduce the quality of the product. Here’s an interesting article on walmart’s effect on US manufacturers.
We love to buy cheap stuff. The cheaper the better. We shop around to get the cheapest price on our food, our clothes, and everything else we buy. I myself am guilty. I love a good deal. It scares me a little though, that for a “good deal” we are destroying our economy. I will not shop at walmart. I try to limit shopping at any major big box (except costco, because they are responsible employers).
Uhhhhmmmm. This kind of arrangement is illegal? The motivation behind it and the actual deal.
How many iPods does Wal-Mart sell. I know there is not much of a choice here in San Diego and they are not merchandised all that well.
Yeah, Wal-mart helps the poor.. And so does Dell because they sell $399 pc’s… Don’t fool yourself.
I could care less about Walmart, they are a backwards run hillbilly company.
I dont go there, what bugs me about WalMart is all the Flag Waving Employee functions you hear about.
Another bothersome aspect of WalMart is the company’s stance on NO EXPLICIT LYRICS on CD’s, yet they will sell you a gun?
There is something wrong with that thinking. A CD never killed anyone
What’s wrong with you freaks?
Are we gonna go through all this moralistic high & mighty bullshit again?
DON’T BE STUPID!
Best thing that could happen for itunes/Apple.
Let me straighten some of you dipshits out.
EVERY product you buy comes from a company that has SOME questionable practices.
Unless you are a monk in the hills, you cannot be immune from this.
You can make certain choices (as I do), but I am also MODERATE IN MY THINKING.
Macromancer,
“I think it’s funny how so many so-called republicans*”
how do you know he’s a republican… he could be a libertarian….
Wal-Mart is evil!