Saturday, July 5, 2008
I Want My ITV
Now that he's successfully revolutionized the music listening experience and wireless telephone communications, Steve Jobs wants next to work his way into our living rooms and revolutionize the way we watch TV. With the new-and-improved AppleTV 2.0, movie lovers will be able to download movies off the web and play them on their own home television sets - legally!
For starters, Apple recently confirmed signing deals with most of the major Hollywood studios to sell downloadable movies using its immensely popular iTunes Music Store for new release DVDs the same day that they come out. Cooperating studios include:
- Paramount Pictures
- 20th Century Fox
- Universal Studios Hollywood
- Warner Brothers
- Sony Pictures Entertainment
- Walt Disney Studios
But that's far from all. You see, this new program, nicknamed "day and date" movie downloads will only be playable on Apple devices. That includes iTunes on your desktop or laptop, the iPod and iPod Touch, the inimitable (though many continue to try) iPhone, and now - drumroll please - Apple TV.
Granted, Jobs and his Apple empire have a lot of competition for your viewing pleasure. As the iPhone gets down and dirty with the likes of the RIM BlackBerry, the Samsung BlackJack, the Palm Treo, the Sprint Touch, and the Nokia N95, AppleTV takes the gloves off as it enters the ring with both web-enabled video purveyors like Sony, HP, and Apple's nemesis number one, Microsoft, as well as digital movie purveyors Blockbuster, Amazon, Netflix, and CinemaNow. It's going to be a rough battle, to say the least, but there is little doubt who, at the end, will reign supreme.
The "day and date" pricing structure was reported in the New York Times to be as follows:
- $14.99 to purchase new releases
- $3.99 to rent them
- $9.99 to purchase older films
- and $2.99 to rent them
Emulating WalMart's business model of losing money on entertainment products just to get customers to walk through the door, Apple will actually be paying $16 per movie per purchased download. Why the negative profit margin? Why, to get people hooked on Apple TV and other Apple exclusive home entertainment products.
Apple TV 2.0 was released in February of '08 with an intuitive, user-friendly interface that puts the viewer in full control of their viewing experience. Currently it sells for only $229, less - for the time being, at least - than the iPhone.
The main difference between watching downloaded movies via Apple TV instead of using any of the current standard methods is that rather than waiting three-quarters of an hour for a movie to download only to eat up a gigabyte or more of precious hard drive space, with Apple TV you can watch selected movies immediately. That's the equivalent of the difference between driving down to the movie theater to stand in line only to wait (im)patiently for showtime and using your TiVo or Comcast cable's On-Demand service. Nobody likes to wait - and with AppleTV, you don't have to.
Immediate gratification just found another new friend in Apple.
Corey Bruhn is the owner of iPhone Mobile Mob, http://www.iphonemobilemob.com, who specializes in reporting news, updates and unique features of the Apple iPhone. Download our FREE iPhone Ebook to find out more about your iPhone.