Briefly: Preloaded iPods, Wal-Mart movies, Apple stores
A truce struck between the two most famous Apple companies has cleared a path to iPods pre-stuffed with content, just as Wal-Mart takes its latest potshot at iTunes' throne with its own web store. Meanwhile, two decidedly more physical Apple stores are on their way.
Apple Corps settlement paving the way for preloaded iPods?
The end of the seemingly epic feud between Apple Corps and Apple, Inc. has done more than just ease the latter's legal conscience, Wired's Leander Kahney wrote on Tuesday.
As the iPod maker no longer has to fret about a barrage of lawsuits every time it toys with the idea of shipping music on discs -- such as the hard drives on its iPods -- the company could now ship jukeboxes preloaded with music instead of simply offering coupons or gift cards as it does with the U2 Special Edition iPod. The new option would let Apple, Inc. score deals with music labels keen to get the latest single to the ears of hip young buyers. According to Kahney, iPods could even be turned into their own distribution medium.
"The iPod could become the new CD," he said. "Flash-memory drives are now so cheap, software companies are starting to use them to ship software. H&R Block, for example, is selling the latest version of its tax-preparation software on a flash drive for $40 -- the same price as the CD version. How much would it cost Apple to add a few music chips and some cheap earbuds?"
Wal-Mart eyes Apple's video download share
America's retail monolith Wal-Mart today fired its latest salvo against Apple's reign over music, adding a new option to download movies and TV shows.
More than a few were startled by the terms of the opening. While Apple has been struggling to grab even one additional Hollywood studio, snagging Paramount in January, Wal-Mart opened its video portal after having scored deals with each of the six heavy-hitting domestic studios. The introduction completely dwarfed Apple's past efforts, posting 3,000 flicks and TV episodes versus Cupertino's paltry 600.
However, the Windows Media-only shop may have already run into its own self-made roadblocks. Many pointed out Wal-Mart's attempt to preserve its bread-and-butter DVD sales: most every movie on the store is priced nearly identically to its cousin at retail outlets, giving little incentive to wait for a download instead of driving to the store. Wal-Mart video downloads are lower-resolution (320 x 240, 30 fps, 500-810 kbps) and can't be burned to CDs or DVDs.
Visitors who tried to browse the site on its opening day using Firefox were also faced with a completely broken page despite supposed compatibility with browsers beyond Internet Explorer. Ironically, Mac owners shut out from buying the videos themselves could still visit using Safari.
Two Apple store openings enroute
On a more positive note, Apple has also confirmed two upcoming store openings in its continuing retail expansion drive.
The Apple Store WestQuay has had its official opening set for this Saturday, February 10th, at 9 AM local time. The event signals Apple's first real presence in the British city of Southampton. As always, Apple is holding its customary drawing for a free Digital Lifestyle Collection, with a 2GHz MacBook and 4GB iPod nano as part of the prize.
Fresno, California-based iPod and Mac fans were eagerly anticipating an all but confirmed store opening at the Fashion Fair mall. Separate job postings were made at CareerBuilder and Craigslist by Apple, indicating definite plans by the company to set up shop at the largely upscale retail outlet within the next several months.
Apple Corps settlement paving the way for preloaded iPods?
The end of the seemingly epic feud between Apple Corps and Apple, Inc. has done more than just ease the latter's legal conscience, Wired's Leander Kahney wrote on Tuesday.
As the iPod maker no longer has to fret about a barrage of lawsuits every time it toys with the idea of shipping music on discs -- such as the hard drives on its iPods -- the company could now ship jukeboxes preloaded with music instead of simply offering coupons or gift cards as it does with the U2 Special Edition iPod. The new option would let Apple, Inc. score deals with music labels keen to get the latest single to the ears of hip young buyers. According to Kahney, iPods could even be turned into their own distribution medium.
"The iPod could become the new CD," he said. "Flash-memory drives are now so cheap, software companies are starting to use them to ship software. H&R Block, for example, is selling the latest version of its tax-preparation software on a flash drive for $40 -- the same price as the CD version. How much would it cost Apple to add a few music chips and some cheap earbuds?"
Wal-Mart eyes Apple's video download share
America's retail monolith Wal-Mart today fired its latest salvo against Apple's reign over music, adding a new option to download movies and TV shows.
More than a few were startled by the terms of the opening. While Apple has been struggling to grab even one additional Hollywood studio, snagging Paramount in January, Wal-Mart opened its video portal after having scored deals with each of the six heavy-hitting domestic studios. The introduction completely dwarfed Apple's past efforts, posting 3,000 flicks and TV episodes versus Cupertino's paltry 600.
However, the Windows Media-only shop may have already run into its own self-made roadblocks. Many pointed out Wal-Mart's attempt to preserve its bread-and-butter DVD sales: most every movie on the store is priced nearly identically to its cousin at retail outlets, giving little incentive to wait for a download instead of driving to the store. Wal-Mart video downloads are lower-resolution (320 x 240, 30 fps, 500-810 kbps) and can't be burned to CDs or DVDs.
Visitors who tried to browse the site on its opening day using Firefox were also faced with a completely broken page despite supposed compatibility with browsers beyond Internet Explorer. Ironically, Mac owners shut out from buying the videos themselves could still visit using Safari.
Two Apple store openings enroute
On a more positive note, Apple has also confirmed two upcoming store openings in its continuing retail expansion drive.
The Apple Store WestQuay has had its official opening set for this Saturday, February 10th, at 9 AM local time. The event signals Apple's first real presence in the British city of Southampton. As always, Apple is holding its customary drawing for a free Digital Lifestyle Collection, with a 2GHz MacBook and 4GB iPod nano as part of the prize.
Fresno, California-based iPod and Mac fans were eagerly anticipating an all but confirmed store opening at the Fashion Fair mall. Separate job postings were made at CareerBuilder and Craigslist by Apple, indicating definite plans by the company to set up shop at the largely upscale retail outlet within the next several months.
Comments
most every movie on the store is priced nearly identically to its cousin at retail outlets, giving little incentive to wait for a download instead of driving to the store. Wal-Mart video downloads are lower-resolution (640x480) and can't be burned to CDs or DVDs.
I haven't bought but a few feature movies from iTunes, and I guess I won't until I get something like AppleTV (no time soon). But I can see the appeal at some level.
I cannot even imagine paying full retail DVD price for 640X480 from the devil's store.
Fortunately, I only have Macs so even in a fit of insanity I would be unable to buy it from them...
(I would like to have 3K to choose from, though...)
Gee- same price for a DVD? Who would want an inferior version for the same $?
I'll stick with Netflix including their new watch now service, which desperately needs new content.
with movies, etc selling for full oprice without the extras, it's not likely they will take off either.
The movie industry has stated that Apple's lenient DRM "scares" them. Walmart's conforms to the rest of the indusrty.
We'll see how this works out. If sales here aren't very good, and sales at other sites aren't very good (they haven't been so far), perhaps the rest of the content industry will see Apple as a better partner after all.
I am still perplex how come industry is so damn resistant to move away from "thinking bricks and mortar pricing" for online sales. I am sure that models they are experimenting with amazon and wm are heading towards a crash, and will prove to be unsustainable. I am just starting to wander how much time will it take these corporate lobbies to understand that they have to give away something and "think digital". Do they really need to bang their head on the wall multiple times???
Related to this: all these half-boiled attempts make me think that apple TV model -- coupling again hardware, software and content -- will be an absolute winner. It will take some time, but I am less and less skeptical towards that product.
It could also be a good resource for digital photography. Offload your pics on the fly, preview you them on your snazzy widescreen iPod and then sync them later to iPhoto.
A quick Google shows 128MB SD cards for anywhere from $8 to $25. With large bulk pricing, I could see SD "CDs" match or beat the prices of regular CDs and labels make the same margin.
2GB SDs are still $25-$50, but I could see entire music catalogs, movies, music videos, TV seasons etc., available for point-of-purchase. Great for impulse buys and better than waiting 45 minutes for a movie to download.
The introduction completely dwarfed Apple's past efforts, posting 3,000 flicks and TV episodes versus Cupertino's paltry 600.
That can't be right. Apple has more than 600 "flicks and TV episodes." Look through all those seasons of all those TV shows - there are way more than 600 from ABC alone. If they mean shows rather than episodes, that's possible, but is that how Walmart is counting too?
On pre-loaded albums: How would that work? I know that a recent change to iTunes allows you to sync purchased tracks back-and-forth between iPod and computer. But don't the tracks have to be purchased with the same account as the computer you sync it to? Perhaps when you buy the iPod, you could enter your iTunes account?
As anyone noticed that the price of a new DVD movie has been in the $15.00 to $20.00 range here of late? What the heck happened to the new release being a bargain to get people in the door? Is it just me?