“There are coincidences in this world, and it’s important not to read too much into them. Pandora playing the song stuck in your head doesn’t make you psychic. But then there are coincidences you can’t help but think might mean a little bit more,” Brian Barrett reports for Gizmodo. “Like, say, three heavy hitter holdouts all hopping on Apple TV within two days of each other.”
“Two days ago, word came down that Hulu Plus had crash-landed on Apple TV,” Barrett reports. “It’s hard to overstate what a big deal this is; the assumption had long been that Apple didn’t want Hulu on its streaming box because it directly competes with Apple’s own (highly profitable) iTunes offerings. Who’s going to buy a $30 season pass to Modern Family when when it’s rolled into your $8/month Hulu Plus subscription?”
Barrett reports, “Then, yesterday, we get Amazon Instant Video on the iPad. Amazon Prime members have wanted this for a long time, but it was an even bigger weed in Apple’s walled garden than Hulu Plus. Not only does Amazon have a selection of for-purchase digital movies and TV shows that rivals Apple’s, its prices are always competitive with iTunes (and often cheaper). It currently makes zero sense for Apple to allow Instant Video on the iPad, and it’s not like Cupertino had to open that door for any reason. Apple can—and does—reject any app it deems too similar to iTunes… Last, Apple added Sky Now TV (a smaller-scale Netflix) in the UK. It hasn’t really registered here in the US, but that makes three major content providers—read: competitors—that Apple’s embraced in two days.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
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Apple launches Hulu Plus on Apple TV – July 31, 2012
Some hobby: Apple TV outsold Xbox 360 last quarter – July 25, 2012
Strategy Analytics: With 32% share, Apple leading ‘Connected TV’ market with ‘hobby’ Apple TV – December 12, 2011
Deliver da’ chedda!
I always find greed a curious thing. It makes company want to control 100%. Personally I would rather have 15% of US$10 Billion instead of 100% of US$1 Billion.
1
That’s a dangerous thought process around here. You might get called a raging socialist baby killer. You must think like High Priestess Ayn Rand and grab all that you can get.
Do socialists kill babies? Oh yeah, the word starts with A.
… got your hot-buttons confused. Or, perhaps, your hot-buttons confused you?
Up until the Kock Suckers (would you prefer Tea Baggers?) laid the title on anyone left of Stalin, no “socialist” – that I’m aware of – was pro baby-killing or “the A-word”. Even Christ, whom the Tea Baggers give lip-service to and the Progressives follow, did not advocate that.
Maybe you should just take out a Merriam-Websters and look these hot-button words up – if only just ONCE – before you use them. Else … well, your ignorance is NOT as good as my education.
That would be Koch Suckers
If managing profit and loss in an efficient, highly respected way (among people who do that for their and their stockholder’s benefit) is “greed”, then the entire world economy is truly greedy. With all due respect, a simplistic and unrelated percentage comparison of ROI wouldn’t carry weight in almost any economy in the world, at least for asset managers.
“Apple didn’t want Hulu on its streaming box because it directly competes with Apple’s own (highly profitable) iTunes offerings”
In 2010 Apple reported that the iTunes store was running just over “break even”. That’s not “highly profitable”. The iTunes store exists to give Apple’s *hardware* customers the content and software that keeps them happy. If that content arrives via Hulu instead, Apple customers are just as happy, and therefore so is Apple.
A.
That Hulu hostage story was bullshit when it went to post.
http://themacadvocate.com/2011/11/01/your-daily-dose-of-tech-beat-stupidity-apple-is-holding-hulu-hostage/
First of all, Jizzmodo automatically qualifies for “Think Before You Click™” as soon as one of their writer’s fingers touches a keyboard. Why would you drive traffic to Jesus Diaz’s crew of asshat linkbaiters? They take 2 shots at Apple’s “30% cut” for hosting, then hilariously equate that “juicy” cut to APPL’s announced $2 billion in revenue from the iTunes store. That’s REVENUE, geniuses – not profit. It’s also par for the course for Jizzmodo’s shittacular reporting.
Secondly, only one “heavy hitter holdout” hopped on the AppleTV: Hulu. Amazon is not on the AppleTV; it’s on the iPad. It’s also on any TV that you can connect to the Internet, so big whoop. SkyTV Now, with apologies to my friends across the pond, is not that big a deal.
HBO Go is not on the AppleTV, but it is on the Xbox 360. This is egregious.
TL/DR: Gizmodo sucks, Hulu Plus on the AppleTV is not that big a deal and the ATV is getting trounced in terms of available streaming content by chumps.
+∞!
… and eventually we will all die, burn, evaporate, and disappear.
Not sure if you are explaining anything about the news or analyzing the Gizmodo’s opinion?
The news is meaningless and Gizmodo’s reporting of it sucks.
Apple better start pushing their Apple tv soon. I’m not feeling it. In the meantime just walk into best buy and stumbled upon Samsung smart tv with gesture controls , voice control, and full web browsing, Fb movies, twitter more. Xbox has ok features too. Tired of the waiting. Also. Have you ever tried streaming a 2 minute video from your iPhone to apple tv? Cool if you don’t mind waiting 30 minutes to see it. Seriously.
@Alrescha:
+1
Apple is, first and foremost, a hardware company (that’s where their profits are). Yes, they make the hardware to run their software (which is MILES above anything else on the market), but they are a hardware company. They want to sell hardware (are you getting the picture?). They will sell more iPads with more content suppliers and whatever “loss” they suffer from lost songs and videos to Amazon, they MORE than make up in new iPad/iPhone sales.
More journalist feces. They sit around and make shit up so they meet they daily quota of an article or get fired, and dream up stuff to get eyes to sell condoms or toilet paper or pee bags or whatever. This one is one dumbass coon.
I’d love to see Qello added to Apple TV.
Simply AirPlay to AppleTV from the Qello app.
Oh yeah Captain, thanks for stating the OBVIOUS. Could have done that with my MBPwRd with Hulu+, too. OBVIOUSLY. Would STILL like Qello on Apple TV.
Wow… this really isn’t that newsy. Roku kicks appleTVs offerings all over the place.
But – this may help Appletv make inroads. And nobody other than Apple fanboys care about an Apple console.
What Apple should concentrate on is beating Spotify – who has out-iTuned iTunes with a much better application.
Go competition!
“Who’s going to buy a $30 season pass to Modern Family when when it’s rolled into your $8/month Hulu Plus subscription?”
Maybe someone who can’t stand watching the commercials on Hulu? Definitely worth $30 to me.
Hulu Plus sucks. Ripe with Ads. I will pay more to have zero propaganda attached, and watch elsewhere (or not at all).
Crackle would be a good addition, especially since it’s free. I’d like to see other channels offer up individual subscriptions like ESPN, HBO, and USA. In the meantime, I can’t cut my cable yet.