Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Apple to launch iTunes Movie Service


Ambitious, sure, but Apple changed the music industry ... and now it's announced an iTunes movie service.


Sony, Universal, Paramount, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, and 20th Century have already signed up. (Walt Disney is a client of MindShare Interaction)
They will launch with 1,000 titles, new releases are $3.99 USD and older titles $2.99 USD.

From the article ..

"People will be able to view films on any make of home computer as well as on video-enabled iPods and iPhones. After downloading rented films, people will have 30 days to begin watching them.

"Once someone has started watching a film, they can view it as many times as they want for 24 hours.

""We've never offered a rental model in music because we think people don't want to rent their favorite music, they want to own it," Jobs said. "But, your favorite movie you watch maybe once.""

Whilst the launch is US only, Jobs is 'dying' to roll this out internationally.

The clincher for Apple is Apple TV ... which allows this VOD model to push right into the users living room. It has essentially taken the PC out of the picture.

VOD has been sluggish (especially in AU) but if anyone can nail this, it is Apple. After all, they have already sold 4b songs on iTunes.

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