News
Apple misses iTunes Movie Rentals goal
During the announcement of iTunes Movie Rentals in January, Apple said it hoped to offer 1,000 films by the end of February. According to a new report, it fell far short of that goal. AppleInsider reports that as of Monday, only 384 movies were available for rent through iTunes, less than 40% of Apple’s stated target. Only 91 films were available in HD, and out of those, 40 lacked Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. In addition, 21 titles came from the 1980’s and earlier, pre-dating modern filmmaking techniques which allow movies to see the greatest benefit from HD resolution and surround sound. This limited number of titles puts Apple at a disadvantage compared to competitors like Amazon’s Unbox and Netflix’s streaming service, which currently offer 10,440 and 5,000 titles, respectively.
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1
I think another reason they missed their goal for rentals is because you can’t rent movies with the 5th Gen Video iPod. There are still a ton of those models out there and the people who bought those were some of the first customers to gamble on the “video on the go” option. Maybe the iTouch/iPhone/Classic crowd isn’t big enough to make a difference yet.
I have an iPhone but I watch my videos on my 5th Gen. I was gung ho ready to rent some movies but the support wasn’t there. I quickly lost that lovin’ feeling towards rentals.
I wonder if there are others like me out there: people who would rent but can’t because of the 5th Gen lock-out.
Posted by Micheal on March 4, 2008 at 9:44 AM (PDT)
2
Their goal had nothing to do with devices able to play. This goal wasn’t about people doing renting, but about the number of rentals available to subscribers, so it doesn’t have anything to do with the 5th gen lock out.
Though I would agree, they are losing out on some customers who can’t take advantage of the feature with their older iPods.
Posted by studogvetmed in Loveland, CO on March 4, 2008 at 11:17 AM (PDT)
3
When the Take 2 software was delayed, I speculated that it had less to do with client software (on the Apple TV itself) not being ready, but rather all of the back-end server changes required to build a new iTMS system. Without those back-end systems in place , it makes sense that they’d be behind schedule on building the content. Apple can’t rip (or whatever) a movie if they’ve got no where to put it, right?
Posted by mwilgar on March 4, 2008 at 12:59 PM (PDT)
4
What kind of psycho would want to watch a movie of any interesting value on a screen as small as their mouth anyways?
Posted by max on March 8, 2008 at 4:39 PM (PDT)