According to the movie industry trade magazine Variety, they report that Apple is all set to start up a movie download service, which would work much like its recent TV-Show download service. However, it looks like one thing that is holding this back now is Apple's insistence on a one price fits all. So far, Apple has successfully managed to keep its 99 cent price per track and would like to have a fixed US$9.99 price on all movie releases also.
Unfortunately for Apple, the movie industry wants to be able to control the pricing over their films, potentially in the region of US$9.99 to US$19.99 for old to new / more popular films respectively. But then again, while Apple generally charges $1.99 per TV show, they have charged different prices for other types of content, such as US$9.99 for the Disney movie "High School Musical", US$19.99 for the Battlestar Galactica miniseries and so on.
If Apple does go ahead with its movie download service, one remaining issue is what format it will provide its content as. For example, a resolution of 320 x 240 to suit the iPod screen will be fine for consumers who watch their movie on their iPod, but for those who hook it up to the TV or watch it on their PC, it will be no better than Video CD quality. It is also unclear if consumers will be able to write their movie to DVD like how they write music to CD. Finally, if the content will only be available in a low resolution like their TV shows, how many consumers would pay up to $19.99 for a download as opposed to popping into the video store to get a high quality version on DVD?
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Movies are a different animal, at least according to the studios. Variety reports that they want a tiered pricing scheme, where new releases would be priced as high as US$19.99 and older movies would be available for US$9.99. The full article can be read here. |
From what I can see, Apple would probably do better offering a rental service where consumers pay a few dollars to watch a movie, since those who would be interested in buying a movie to keep would more likely go for the version on DVD. Also, unlike listening to music where consumers like to have a discrete music player, when watching DVD, consumers usually either have the device sitting on their lap or resting somewhere in front of time, so in this case a larger screen is of a benefit. Thus, even if Apple has a successful movie download service, I cannot see them easily competing with DVDs unless they start introducing players with a larger screen or making their movies also available in a higher resolution with DVD writing support.
Source: Ars Technica
