Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that iTunes Store movie rentals could happen as soon as January’s Macworld Conference and Expo.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs is scheduled to deliver his Macworld Conference and Expo keynote presentation in San Francisco on Tuesday, January 15, 2008, 9:00-10:30am PT.
Don Reisinger blogs for CNET, “Munster also believes the Apple TV will play a key role in the launch. ‘If Apple begins renting movie downloads on iTunes, we expect a related software update to the Apple TV enabling movie rentals direct to the Apple TV. In fact, the Apple TV software currently includes ‘iTunes Store settings’ in its settings menu, but the option is essentially inactive,’ he wrote. ‘We expect this setting to be activated soon; users will likely be able to log into their iTunes accounts directly from the Apple TV and browse movie rentals, then download them directly to their Apple TV.'”
Reisinger reports, “Munster explained, ‘We have been expecting iTunes movie rentals for nearly one year, but due to pricing disagreements and DRM-related issues, the studios and Apple have not yet come to an agreement.'”
“And therein lies the rub,” Reisinger writes. “Once again, we’re at the mercy of a group of movie studios who have no idea what we want or how to bring it to us. Why should we not be given the service we want because some idiot at MGM is deathly afraid of his precious B-movies getting pirated? Got news for you, friend: it’s already happening, and adding more DRM won’t work.”
“While Steve Jobs called the device a ‘hobby,’ and most are speculating that it’s an 18-month trial product to see if there’s any interest from consumers, iTunes movie rentals could have a profound impact on Apple TV sales, if integrated with the device properly,” Reisinger writes.
Full article here.
I’ve said it before, HD file sizes will be to impractical for downloading. Thats why we have physical disks for the HD ‘source’ content. Nobody seems concerned with downloading 128kbps mp3s, why do movies have to be such great quality.
Unless it’s something visualy spectacular (Star Wars, LOTR, Matrix etc.. you know, special effects type movies), but if it’s just actors talking to eachother in a more ‘normal’ ‘earthly’ setting, why does it have to be HD.
Peter,
Do you own any of the items you have called junk? Are thy junk because you are unable to afford them? Is Opus One tasteless because you can only afford MD 20/20? Is a Mercedes a waste of money because you drive a Pinto? Is Gisele fugly because you’re dating the girl voted most likely to never date? Try something before you comment on it’s quality. I bought an iPod Touch. It is even more amazing than I expected. It is absolutely not junk. It is a toy but not junk. By the way are you old enough to drink or drive?
@Realist
“It will fail. Like all things Apple, it will fail.”
Yeah. Fail to the tune of 15 Billion in cold hard cash in the bank. Right. Moron.
All you guys who wanna ‘play’ with your mac in the lounge room, that’s fine. But some of us actually work on our macs.
I just sometimes wish Apple would try and infiltrate the business world a bit and concentrate a bit less on the entertainment side of things. iTunes,iPhone,ATV (in Australia so havn’t actually used one but i can imagine it’s great) the iPod etc… – all wonderfull Apple products. But they need an Office suite of some kind. People don’t equate Keynote to PowerPoint, the message isn’t getting through. Hopefully the iPhone will help smash down a few walls.
I would buy and AppleTV If it had somthing like Tivo on it, otherwise im thinking of getting a macmini and TV Tunner for a PVR on the HDTV.
movie rentals
$1.99 a pop
24 hour licence
buy ownership from the movie studio (linked)
Apple and the Studios would clean up BIG time. Massive. I hope it ain’t Jobs holding this one up by ‘not getting it’.
I just sometimes wish Apple would try and infiltrate the business world a bit and concentrate a bit less on the entertainment side of things.
Why? The business world is all about commodity; Apple shouldn’t take on Dell’s bottom-feeding market.
I’ll argue that the entertainment & consumer side is better for Apple. Look at the automotive market: sure fleets might be good customers, but you’re lucky to sell at cost, not to mention it screws your brand and resale value. Seriously, who wants a used Dell??
Apple should aggressively pursue whatever’s more profitable (and brand-building) for them. If it’s entertainment then so be it.
I doubt that there’s anything that would ignite sales of the AppleTV… there’s simply no demand for it, even with movie rentals.
My AppleTV has been great — I use it daily as my living room MP3 player, and the screen saver of recent pix is cool. People are still blown away when they see it.
About once a week my roommates and I watch new movie previews and the Best of YouTube, and occasionally I’ll buy a TV show I missed and watch it on the big screen. When I make movies in iMovie, I usually share them on the big screen as well.
DVR is obviously crucial, but I’m not sure if I want it in the ATV. Although the current cable implementation of it is a disaster. Tivo was great, but the interface hasn’t grown or changed significantly in years. I want a lightning fast AJAX or flash kind of interface that lets me easily manipulate the TV guide and my recording info.
I’m not sure if movie rentals will make me use that feature, unless they’re in HD. I’m also not a huge fan of the ATV interface — I’m on a computer all day and am used to quickly typing and sorting and dragging information around to manage it. The ATV interface is elegant and simple, but I like the computer as a front end, and iTunes is a good interim step.
“iTunes movie rentals could have a profound impact on Apple TV sales”
And it will have a very profound impact on Netflix and Blockbuster’s business. Netflix was a great idea to fill the short time period between going to the store and downloading, but still very “primitive”.
And Blockbuster… Good riddance. Can anyone say… Tower Records? Remember that place?
This whole idea of driving to pick up, and / or shipping computer files on discs is about to go bye-bye. Who wants to drive to a store to pick up a computer file? Who wants a computer file mailed to them on a disk?
Not me.
I’m getting cuz I know ATV will get all the goodies it needs via firmware update. Its built with the ability to be upgraded right off the bat.
…or function.
mw: past, as in, my past is nothing, as is my future without c1.
Comcast HD On Demand is a joke. Very few HD movies are available, and those that are online are either old and stale ($3.99 rentals) or recent but pricey ($5.99 rentals). Also, the On Demand interface is an awful reminder of Windows 95 and MS-DOS – it’s just a terrible user experience and a tedious nightmare to navigate. Apple should have no trouble pushing these guys aside.
However, like all cable systems, Comcast also has download limits on their Internet service, and if you are a customer, they will cut you off if you start downloading too much content (or maybe they’ll just phase in a higher-priced Internet service to allow faster downloads). Whatever, you can expect that Comcast plans to take a cut of the action if third-party providers like Apple try to muscle in on their video services. Comcast will not give up this business without a nasty fight, especially since the company already is falling far behind satellite in HD channel offerings.
Mark my words, whatever movie rental prices Apple comes up with only will be a starting point in the modern entertainment world that is coming. Those with cable-based Internet service had better start checking alternative service providers…
@ Viewer
“Right now it is very cumbersome to to stop and review a particular scene.”
you are prolly using too much lotion, or using your wacking hand.
HD content over itunes would be great except for the fact that downloading an HD movie would take many hours.