Microsoft at work on iPhone & iPad app for Movies & TV customers

AppleInsider

Microsoft is reportedly developing iOS and/or Android clients for Movies & TV, a native Windows equivalent of Apple's iTunes Store.

Microsoft is working on the project to give people more reason to buy things from the Microsoft Store, according to Windows Central sources. To date people buying video from Movies & TV have only been able to watch on Windows devices -- a problem since while many people have Windows desktops and laptops, the platform is much less popular on phones and dedicated tablets.

The company is also allegedly joining Movies Anywhere, a program meant to improve the value of online storefronts by ensuring video bought in one place can be accessed elsewhere. Currently partners include Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, and Walmart's Vudu. A movie bought from Disney, for instance, can appear in both a person's iTunes and Google Play Movies libraries.

Under current CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has become more open to supporting non-Windows platforms, content so long as people use the company's services. Office apps are accessible on iPhones and iPads, for example, but require an Office 365 subscription to access all features.

The company is thought to be moving back into first-party mobile devices with "Andromeda," the codename for a pocketable Surface product. Assuming it's not scrapped before launch, the device could unfold to offer a tablet-sized screen.

ascii

All the different online video services encode movies at different bitrates and using different codecs. And something that is not known generally but is known to movie fans is that the MS Store is actually the best one. 

For the same price as iTunes you get a file that is often 50% bigger and a much higher bitrate and looks noticeably better even to a novice. 

iTunes has a much wider range of movies than the MS Store, and you are automatically signed in, making it more convenient, so Apple might think it is harmless to approve this little app, but sweat the details, check the bitrates, and be careful you are not letting in a trojan horse!

nunzy

Why should Apple allow Microsoft to poach Apple's customers on Apple's devices? Apple's best bet is to refuse to carry the Microsoft app on App Store. What is the point of being an exclusive supplier if you supply your competitors with profits?

Apple should not stand for this

Roger_Fingas

nunzy said:

Why should Apple allow Microsoft to poach Apple's customers on Apple's devices? Apple's best bet is to refuse to carry the Microsoft app on App Store. What is the point of being an exclusive supplier if you supply your competitors with profits?

Apple should not stand for this

Bear in mind that people wouldn't be able to buy from the Microsoft Store on iOS, simply watch content the already have.

[Deleted User]

another member of movies-anywhere is good news in my books, the more the better so we can truly watch everything on one service/device.

rotateleftbyte

If using this means reactivating my Microsoft ID then the answer is a clear No. It has take me nearly two years to get free of MS. And yes MS I do want to delete my account and No, I don't want to wait 90 days! (or whatever it was). Then I still got spam mail from them for more than a year. The mails were trying to get me to return to the fold.

jimh2

Stupid idea and a tremendous use of resources. They will get a few customers to try it out and then realize that you need to give your credit card info, email address and a bunch of other stuff they don't need just to do what you can already do with iTunes.

ols

Microsoft - good luck with that but I won’t be interested. 

entropys

For the same price as iTunes you get a file that is often 50% bigger and a much higher bitrate and looks noticeably better even to a novice. 

It may be better or it may not be, that is in the eyes of the beholder. I would not be prepared to say a bigger file size or higher bit rate is a proof of quality though. That would depend on the quaility of the encoding I would think.  And a bigger file even could have some negs, such as bandwidth requirements that limit usefulness.

ascii

entropys said:

For the same price as iTunes you get a file that is often 50% bigger and a much higher bitrate and looks noticeably better even to a novice. 

It may be better or it may not be, that is in the eyes of the beholder. I would not be prepared to say a bigger file size or higher bit rate is a proof of quality though. That would depend on the quaility of the encoding I would think.  And a bigger file even could have some negs, such as bandwidth requirements that limit usefulness.

Yep, it's definitely in the eye of the beholder, specs don't tell the full story. But its an experiment anyone can do, just rent the same movie from all the different services and compare for yourself. Action movies are a good choice because fast moving scenes will show artefacts where the service has been stingy with bitrate.