Apple Movie Rentals, Anyone Questioning the AppleTV Now ?
December 27, 2007 · Print This Article
Earlier this year Apple released the AppleTV as what Steve Jobs called a hobby project. It was a pretty cool device and I was impressed with it. I saw it as a good move to finally bridge the gap from the computer into our living rooms. I bought one and can honestly say it has been awesome. I have moved my entire DVD collection over to iTunes and use the AppleTV th stream the content right to an LCD in the living room. Works great.
However, lately there has been a lot of press about the low numbers of the AppleTV sales and questioning whether it should join the scrap heap or not. Notice that we never really heard any news out of Apple. They just sat back and let the talk go on. What I think Apple has known, as I have thought from the the beginning, is that the AppleTV is the perfect (okay perfect is a strong word) platform for Apple to leverage content on to. Content like, oh say … an online movie rental. The AppleTV has simply been a placeholder if you will. It is almost like iTunes is a tool where Apple loses $$ most likely to drive hardware sales in the form of the iPod.
So now we have the news that Fox has signed a deal with Apple to rent movies through the iTunes store for $2.99 for a 30 day rental. See Apple is pretty smart, they have the platform in place, now they have the content to flow to it. I think it is a great move and will make the folks at NetFlix and Blockbuster shake in their shoes a bit. Netflix is worrying about the size of the envelopes and the Postal Service while Apple is geting ready to finally deliver the digital content we have been waiting for. If only it is HD, that would be the capper.
Om Malik has another take on it. He thinks
The rumor is being viewed by some as a way to revive the flagging Apple TV platform. The reality is that Apple needs to beef up its video offerings if it wants to continue the iPod cash machine humming. The best clue is the easy-to-rip-and-transfer-to-iPod capabilities that may be built into future FOX DVD offerings.
I agree with what he is saying, videos are in short supply on iTunes and if you see his first sentence about the reviving of AppleTV, I also agree. I don’t think this is about “reviving” the AppleTV. I doubt Apple has cared too much because as they have been working this rental deal, they have known they have the Ace in their back pocket, the Ace that allows an easy pipeline right from the iTunes store to the users tv. In other words the AppleTV. Amazon for instance has video rentals, but they don’t control the entire flow. They rely on other vendors and hardware. Apple will own the entire process, and with their track record of easy to use customer experiences it is bound to be a seamless intuitive process.
I am totally excited by this news. The ability to scan the iTunes rentals right form my tv and start the download and viewing will be awesome. I will definitely watch more movies. I can only hope they actually start to use the HDMI interface they built into the hardware and deliver the HD content we viewers are demanding.
IMO, digital video devices, like the AppleTV, have always had a tough road to hoe because there was never a readily available source of digital content. Ripping DVD was always possible, but it wasn’t easy (there’s no iTunes-like interface) and the methods were of questionable legality (whether or not you or I agree with the DMCA concerns, I think we’d be hard pressed to say that permanently ripping a rented movie is on the up-and-up).
Getting support for rented movies on the AppleTV and the iPod/iPhone could be huge. If I’m Vudu I’m watching next month’s Macworld with great trepidation. For as nice as their system may be, competing with the iPod ecosystem is going to be tough.
Assuming the info in WSJ is correct, the big question is whether other studios will hop on board. When the AppleTV first came out, there were rumors that the studios were wary of giving Apple the same clout in the video industry that they’d achieved in the music industry.
[…] So does it still suck so much now Robert ? I do not think so. With Apples announcements about its upgrades today, like I said previously, Apple is well positioned here to take over our living rooms as well. With the rental offerings, HD content, direct access to iTunes, it makes the AppleTV so much more valuable. […]