“In much the same way it upended online distribution of music, Apple may now be poised to redefine the way movies are rented online. According to published reports, Apple and Fox plan to bring movie rentals to Apple’s popular iTunes Store, and through that to its family of iPod media players and the iPhone. The two companies are said to have concluded an agreement that will have Fox movies available for limited-time viewing via iTunes as they are released on DVD,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
Apple competitors’ offerings are “hard to use and their movies don’t work with iPods, among the most popular digital entertainment devices on the market, says JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg. ‘Apple will be bringing to the table its famous ease-of-use and its popular player,’ Gartenberg says. ‘For all intents and purposes, if something doesn’t work with the iPhone or the iPod, it doesn’t exist.’ Some of the services aren’t compatible with Apple’s Macintosh computers, either,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs may announce the rental plan on Jan. 15, during his keynote address at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco… As much as the Apple-Fox deal could shake up online film rental, it’s also likely to breathe new life into Apple TV, a digital media also-ran,” Hesseldahl reports. “…Apple hasn’t disclosed the number of Apple TV devices sold, but market research firm iSuppli has estimated the number at less than a million units. The number could rise quickly once movies are available for rent from iTunes.”
MacDailyNews Take: Let’s say 900,000 Apple TV units sold since March 21, 2007. That’s an average of 100,000 units per month. At $350 each (and that’s probably a bit low as most Apple TV buyers would opt for the larger 160GB hard drive model at $399 vs. the 40GB $299 model), that’s $35 million per month from Apple TV. $315 million in 9 months. Can we please have an “also-ran” like that? And how have competitors done with products that claim to do similar things as Apple TV? “Much worse” would be an excellent guess. Apple TV denigrators seem to forget that when and if Apple turns on movie and TV show rentals (and they include Apple TV, which they almost certainly would), there will be 1 million units out there owned by customers who are thirsting for content. We are poised and ready to rent. If the rumors are true, iTunes movie and TV show rentals are going to be much bigger and growth will happen much faster than many seem to realize. Watch and see – literally.
Hesseldahl continues, “Apple TV currently has a set of options related to the iTunes Store that for now do nothing. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray (PJC) expects that soon consumers with Apple TV boxes will be able to rent movies from their living room by using iTunes via the TV… Reports say Apple will allow future Fox DVD releases to be ‘ripped’ to iTunes collections in much the same way that music can be ripped from a CD… Earlier rumors had said that movies would be playable [on Macs, iPods, iPhones, Apple TVs, anything Apple comes up with in the future, and Windows PCs] for 30 days for a price of $2.99.”
Full article here.
You don’t. Say.
I hope that the quality of the rentals will be a higher resolution to take advantage of all the 720p/1080i/1080p sets being purchased. I think that will be an important catalyst for success. Even though people don’t really understand what HD is, providing it as an option makes people feel it’s better and worth it.
@ JadisOne
I think options are the key. Gimme Transformers in Hi Def, but I don’t need to wait for a 1080p download of Ishtar, thank you.
It is all so damned obvious that Apple TV has been awaiting content. It is a platform that Apple just had to place into the market, so that it was ready to go once the needed elements were in place. And being based on OS X, its capabilities are upgradeable by synching.
But the almost unanimously stupid analysts and pundits just couldn’t containing their snarky cynical mouths — iFail, iBust, blah, blah … blah. Massive portions of crow await serving to the anti Apple TV FUD spewers.
@ LinuxGuyAndMacProdigalSon
Come on, you should know by now that if a product isn’t the final, perfectly realized ideal of everyone in the world the day it’s released, then no analyst will have the vision to understand what it’s really about. Name one analyst that saw the iPod coming.
If you Can – Do.
If you can’t think, imagine, create, improve, or execute – Analyze.
RE-invigorate?
Try legitimize.
Full-HD support will do it.
I think the movie rentals will start out Standard Def wide screen and as things progress and Apple shows that there is a good market they’ll start introducing Hi Def 720p content (about April) and will then introduce a 1080p content option next year.
@MDN,
I think Hessedahl’s “also-ran” comment was about WalMart and other rental services that are difficult to use, not Apple’s. Anyway, that’s my take.
Okay, you’re right, I just read the BW article, and he did refer to AppleTV as an “also-ran” after belittling all the other online download efforts from others, as well. Basically, the whole online movie effort is in its nascent stage so far. That’s true.
The opinions about AppleTV that reflect poorly on its condition are simply a matter of people having such lofty expectations for anything Apple does. If it’s not a rocket to space then it’s a complete failure as far as they are concerned.
People need to realize that products take time to mature expecially when introduced into a system like Apple TV and rentals etc will eventually be. It’s not going to always be 100% full throttle at launch.
I’m betting that the AppleTV detractors will be sitting along side the laura Goldman quotes by the end of ’08.
ok, thats all and good for America and countries that have cheap internet.
In australia, where I pay $70 AUD for 12Gigabytes a month…
Apple needs to have particular deals with ISPs, to set up servers that don’t count the movies bought from iTunes as part of the download. And that way, that would really kill bit-torrent.
Apple TV is only a failure in comparison to the iPod, which more than being a success is one of the greatest successes of all time. As MDN said, I think any company would be happy with sales of their product matching that of the Apple TV – especially when you know Apple will be making a tidy profit of each device – unlike some companies.
weren’t there a lot of rumors about other stuff to be announced at the same time apple tv came out? and then there were stories about deals falling through at the last minute?
“The opinions about AppleTV that reflect poorly on its condition are simply a matter of people having such lofty expectations for anything Apple does.”
False. All the harsh criticism for AppleTV is based on the fact that people want SOMETHING to call a failure when it comes to Apple. It’s basic human jealousy.
Hmmm… let’s see, Netflix for $17.99 per month for unlimited movie rentals, or an AppleTV for $399 plus $5 per each movie I want to rent. Not to mention that the movie EXPIRES after a certain number of days. No thanks, I’ll stick with Netflix.
I’d much rather have the profits from AppleTV than those from the Xbox.
Let’s say 900,000 Apple TV units sold since March 21, 2007.
Let’s say 20 million.
Let’s say 287 513.
Let’s say more than the number of elementary particles in the universe.
Let’s say 160GB Apple TV is the 1,521st most popular item in Amazon.com Electronics.
Let’s say we talk about it again in a year.
@MacBill
Yes, but you don’t get to keep any of the movies you rent on Netflix either, unless you’re doing something a little illegal (*cough* Handbrake *cough*). $5 per rent is an OK price, Comcast charges up to $7 for some titles (and for no apparent reason), which expire in 24 hours. Plus, the “unlimited” plan as Netflix calls it only let you receive 3 movies at a time (not to mention their throtlling practices). I’m guessing you could rent as many titles as you like with the new rental thing (not that you’d want to). Just my $0.02.
@ MacBill
If you’re going to add the cost of the AppleTV, then you have to figure in the cost of the DVD player you use for Netflix.
My friend just got her third shattered DVD in the mail from Netflix yesterday. 3 in a row.
Netflix vs AppleTV
$18/month | $3 per rental (NOT $5)
Decide what movie you think you may want to see in a few days
vs
Get the movie you want to watch then and there
I probably watch about 5 movies/month. AppleTV is CHEAPER & BETTER than Netflix
of course AppleTV is a work in progress. I mean, it only works with HD TVs and doesn’t have HD content. have patience before you judge it. It’s a new strategy for Apple but it is the right one for this market. I’m glad AppleTV was in place for the big content announcements.
@ChrissyOne
“…but I don’t need to wait for a 1080p download of Ishtar, thank you.”
Why would anyone wait for any version of Ishtar?
“Hmmm… let’s see, Netflix for $17.99 per month for unlimited movie rentals, or an AppleTV for $399 plus $5 per each movie I want to rent. Not to mention that the movie EXPIRES after a certain number of days. No thanks, I’ll stick with Netflix.”
hmmm, lets see, 2 movies a week if i watch them asap with netflix, or as many as i want when i want them as fast as my 7 meg pipe can throw them at me.
gosh you are right.
plus, subtract the 2-3 bad disks i get a month on netflix against the number of bad downloads i have gotten from itunes… zero… yeah this is stacking up well.
not to mention on itunes i get to buy stuff if i want to as well….
all Apple needs to crush ALL movie rental places is a deal where the rental price applies towards buying it if you want it after you watch it, and a nice easy disk player in the next gen appletvs that will read files i bought and burned for backup.
the end approaches…
I’m hoping for v2 of Apple TV
1- 40 GB for $300 is way too much for too little.
2- Powered by a Pentium D? Why not a more power efficient chip, Steve?
3- How about built-in Bluetooth, so we can use our iPod Touches or iPhones for a controller/keypad?
4- Visual overhaul of Apple TV (and Front Row in 10.5) to the look of Front Row in 10.4. All that Blue is garish. Actually ,most of 10.5 is as well.
I’d settle for a Mac Mini with an HDMI jack and a real graphics chip.