Somewhat amusingly, the information that keeps being put out about Apple’s iTunes Movie Store is not so much data gathered about what Apple plans to do, but about how Wal Mart is not happy with it. Seems the $15 or so that Apple is looking to charge for a movie download is a price low enough that Wal Mart feels they are going to be undercut. And being the source for 40% of DVD sales in the US, that is not a small chunk of change they are looking at.
There are several issues complicating matters. The first is that Apple is supposedly going to allow playback on up to 5 devices. Movie studios can’t be happy about that, not with their anti-piracy efforts still ongoing. That will make it harder for Apple to sign up more studios. Another is that the movie companies see what happened to music downloads, and their difficulty in getting the price raised from $0.99. Last thing they want to do is to enrich Apple while watching their own fortunes slip away. Finally, Wal Mart’s market presence has to give them some clout when dealing with the movie companies, and their disapproval is going to make it that much harder for the movie studios to deal with Apple. All in all, yet another shining example of doing the wrong thing for the wrong reason. Someone should tell the movie studios how futile their obstructionist tactics are.
One downside for Apple is what they will be offering. Is it going to be downloads for iPods, or something that is good enough quality to watch on a large screen tv.? Have to wait and see what comes up.
