“According to All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka, Apple has been trying to convince programmerrs to make their shows available as part of a subscription, available via iTunes. The monthly price would be around $30, he reports,” Burrows reports.
“No company is as well positioned to satisfy this demand than Apple. Many carriers have plans to make their content available in more numerous, and interesting ways… But only Apple has iTunes. Hundreds of millions of people have tthis program installed on their PCs, Macs, iPods and iPhones, and more than 75 million have an ongoing billing relationship with the online store by the same name,” Burrows writes. “Rather than any one product, it seems to me Apple’s greatest imperative should be maintaining iTunes’ role in these consumers’ lives. The Apple TV may never be a hit. But consumers that decide to get their TV via iTunes rather than their current provider will be much more likely to buy new Apple products down the road. Certainly, many would consider a device for watching TV that is more portable than a MacBook, but larger than an iPhone. A tablet device, for example.”
Burrows reports, “All of this remains conjecture, and assumes that Apple iTunes chief Eddy Cue can land the necessary content deals. It won’t be easy, since these partners will be loath to cross their current distributors. But don’t count Cue out.”
Full article here.