Apple really has been sitting on it's hands with iTunes. Everyone else are providing cool promotions while iTunes just sits there. Apple TV? Dated on day 1.
Apple TV – Day 1 had first good scrubbing system, that uses touch and had no delay in loading the scrubber thumbnail for current position.
Seriously the ATV whining is baseless and boils down to “But there’s no 4K!” as if any normals cared about this.
iTunes is still noticeably more expensive than all competition and without promotions which indicates Apple is not sweating this.
By the way are people still downloading movies illegally from torrent sites and what have you? I thought that was a thing of the past? I don’t know of anyone who does that at the monent... why would you want to sacrifice the HD quality for a few dollars?
Can you provide some examples? In my market, iTunes is same or slightly cheaper than the "PayTV" (cable, telco) competition for purchase & rentals. iTunes has a far larger library for purchase than any other.
I don't know of Amazon (not the prime included streaming, but the explicit purchase / rental) - perhaps a little cheaper with promotions?
I am not arguing that Apple hasn't put any real effort into iTunes media - this is a fact - but I haven't seen any real cheaper competition for "this media".
I always buy on iTunes because, usually, the iTunes Extras usually provide a decent set of extra features - usually mimicking the physical disc release. The number of audio commentaries being included, for example, has been a great reason to buy. No other service does this (to my knowledge). Plus the generous device allowance of iTunes allows me to download the content across multiple devices.
I mostly rent on Amazon Prime Video because there are usually offers and discounts that make the cost of renting much more reasonable. But I don't really trust Amazon sufficiently to buy non-physical movies from them. Having just seen the BBC Store close down after a year, it makes me very nervous for streaming only services like this. But at least the BBC refunded the full cost of everything that I bought from them plus, ironically, giving me a £20 voucher for Amazon (which I used to rent stuff).
VUDU does the same thing with the extras. I buy all my movies digitally through Vudu as I can stream them on anything I have, Smart TV, Xbox, Roku, Chromcast, iPhone, iPad and still get all the extras.
But then again, you can't view iTunes rented or purchased content outside of iTunes either. So it is a wash. Well no, it isn't because iTunes only allows you to view rentals on one device where Flixster, Vudu, Amazon, Google, Netflix etc. do not. Apple just fell behind here, and there is no good way to catch up.
Not true. You can view rentals on any device you're logged into:
Movies you rent are available to watch on each device associated with your Apple ID. Make sure you're on the latest version of iOS, tvOS, or iTunes available, then follow the steps below to find your rentals.
I use AppleTV almost exclusively for entertainment. Netflix and HBO and I peruse the PBS app as well. I have rented some movies from iTunes but never buy, I also stopped buying Blu Ray and Dads altogether, the only exception is rare, art or cult films that cannot be found anywhere else. There will be a point when it will make little sense to worry about making a profit from big commercial moves because the price per rental will continue to slide as players like Amazon will race it all to the bottom soon enough. I prefer boutique over shopping mall any day.
The story is basically the same one we've heard in every market in which Apple participates. That being, Apple's sales are not growing as fast as the overall market. What's new? I'll bet Coach sales have rarely grown as fat as the overall handbag market. All markets have segments, and the growth in the lower-priced, commoditized segments is almost always faster than the higher-priced premium segments. No surprise there. wheres the money being made, and is Apple profiting handsomely in its segment, while growing? Thosecare the questions to ask.
On a side note, it seems Wall St likes to anchor on all the wrong things. For example, if a company [Apple], participates in a market, Wall St myopically measures its success by focusing on just that one market, and usually the wrong metrics of true success (profit would be where I'd start, rarely where Wall St starts). And what about measuring against other businesses. If I own a coffee shop that does half as well as Starbucks, but three times as well as any other business in my neighborhood, guess what... I made a good decision to start a coffee shop rather than a hat store. Apple is a better business than KO or AMZN, once you back up and look down from the 10,000' height. And yet, bizarrely, it's assigned a significantly lower valuation than either.
This is dumb. Not everything can be spun in favor of the ridiculous Windows to Mac/Android to iOS arguments. Amazon Prime Video competes in the same segment as does iTunes and offers similar prices for movie and TV rental. Amazon Prime is winning here because Prime offers BOTH the Netflix/Hulu model and the iTunes model. Pay the Prime subscription, you get all the basic content like the former. Pay to rent/buy you get the other content like iTunes. The difference between Amazon Prime and Netflix/Hulu is that paying for Amazon Prime also gets you free shipping on their shopping site, book deals etc. For people who already owned Kindles and were regular Amazon Prime shoppers, the Netflix/Hulu movie tier is free. And it is easier/more convenient to access the rented/bought content through Amazon Prime via your Roku or smart TV app than it is on iTunes, which you can only access either via your PC or on Apple TV. And where iTunes content can only be viewed on a single device, content bought or rented via Amazon Prime can be viewed on any device ... your Mac, iPad, Roku, smart TV and also via your web browser. Amazon Prime also offers an easy, convenient way to access HBO and other pay cable channels for cord cutters as well as a ton of exclusive content that isn't available anywhere else. Meanwhile iTunes does neither.
And this has nothing to do with whining about "look down from the 10000' height." You are only spewing that nonsense in order to evade the actual issue of the WSJ column. Which is that Apple is losing market share to Amazon Prime because Amazon offers a better service for people who are already Prime members than Apple does through iTunes. The reason is that Amazon Prime Video is a service that launched like 10 years ago and Amazon has continuously updated and improved it. I was an early adopter to Amazon Prime and it was brutal ... back then all you could do was download videos to a PC and view it with Windows Media Player, VLC or something like that. Making it essentially an inferior iTunes competitor, similar to what Amazon Music was back then. But Amazon built on that to make it pretty much the best streaming video service out there because you can get both the subscription content that Hulu and Netflix offers AND the rental/purchase options that iTunes, Vudu, Fandango and Google Play offers. And again, Prime, Vudu, Fandango and Google Play all offer primarily web-based clients, not resource-heavy desktop applications that was designed back in the mid-90s to download files over 2600 baud modem connections and hasn't had its core technology meaningfully updated since then like iTunes. Yes, I know that iTunes on iPad and iPhones are better solutions, but the Prime Video app is on those too (and works as good or better). The point is that the Prime solution is clearly better on everything BUT the iPad and iPhone, which for most people is their third option for watching movies after the TV and PC, especially if you are not one of the tiny percentage of the population that actually owns an Apple TV instead of a smart TV.
Bottom line: when you add the subscriptions to the rental/sales fees as well as the premium channel add-ons, Amazon is making more than Apple is with iTunes on movies and TV shows. But hey, Apple is making more on iPhones and iPads than Amazon is on Fire TV boxes, Kindles and Prime phones, right? That is the only comparison that you want to make, right? Because that is the only one that is favorable to you. Well, how about we compare the money that Apple is making on iCloud subscriptions versus how much Amazon is making on AWS? But I bet you think that enterprise AWS is a "commodity segment" right?
That's a pretty long-winded argument that doesn't really address the points. Amazon Prime has to cover the cost of its primary utility, that being free shipping, before any of its revenue or, if any exist, profit, can be attributed to video streaming. My point that Apple is growing slower than the market is valid. I don't even think you disputed that. My point that Apple sells streaming at the premium end of the market (versus tossing it in as an extra as Amazon does, for example), is valid. There's nothing in my comment that suggests users might prefer one over the other. I didn't address that, and I wasn't required to, despite the fact you'd like to move and redefine the goal posts in your comment. But thanks for the indepth reviews. Ugh.
I have purchased a few movies from iTunes but how long do I actually get to watch them if Apple decides to exit the business some day. Also, I lose access to those movies if I switch platforms. The movies only play on Apple devices. On the other hand I subscribe to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime and find those services really no better. The movies they offer for streaming are old, badly reviewed knockoffs of more famous movies in their genre. I find that I rent more movies than I stream because of quality. iTunes rental prices are in line with Amazon Prime ($4.99 - $5.99).
I'm with you....
I've been around too long to rely on platforms being available tomorrow or the next day to trust them to hold my music and/or video library.
But, why should I pay $5 - $6 to rent (especially if I only have a day once I start it) when, except for the newest movies, I can buy a DVD for the same amount from EBay? Then I can take as long as I want to watch it -- and then as many times as I want.
... I have movies that I bought years ago that I still go back to...
....... Apollo 13, Cinderella Man,The Imitation Game, Bruce Springsteen Concerts....
I think the quality of the video is controlled by the supplier, not Apple.
I'm usually satisfied with the quality of video offerings on the iTunes Store, but not always. The last batch of "Vikings" episodes was glitchy as hell (digital "breakup" every few minutes) and darker scenes had really bad compression artifacts. The scenes in "Ex Machina" under the red lights also looked really bad.
I'm not saying the iTunes Store is a bad choice -- I still use it regularly -- but I'm not sure there's any guarantee of better quality video associated with it.
My biggest complaint about buying content on the iTunes Store is something that may be beyond Apple's control: comparative cost.
It's almost always less expensive, sometimes WAAAY less expensive, to buy physical media (Blu-Ray) than to get the same title from the iTunes Store. On a few occasions I've even found a combo package (Blu-Ray with download voucher) for less than just the download from the iTunes Store. How is that possible?
I don't pretend to have any knowledge whatsoever of how prices are set across various distribution methods, so I don't know if the reasons for the differences lie with the seller or the distributor. I just know that the savings are usually enough to justify the extra step required for me to rip a disc. That means Apple doesn't see any of my money.
Again, I don't know why pricing is the way it is, but as the guy spending the money, it doesn't really matter to me. It just means I don't buy media from Apple as often as I'd prefer to.
Not surprising at all. AppleTV has become an utterly dated, mediocre product -- I barely use it anymore, except to listen to my music on the cloud. Our cable provider, Comcast, has really upped its game. I can watch pretty much anything I need -- movies, TV shows -- on any of my devices, not to mention my TV. Often I check for shows on Comcast first, since it searches across every content provider and tells me when stuff is free on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, Starz, etc., stuff that Apple would charge me for; i.e., it does a good-enough 'universal' search.
Apple has essentially surrendered the TV/movie game to its competitors. When Cook makes a statement like 'AppleTV is the future of television,' it sounds laughable, actually. I can't believe he can say that with a straight face. Eddy Cue has been been pathetic in his role, and has not served Apple well. It's amazing that's he's still around.
Not exactly true. I can't watch Comcast shows from another house using Comcast unless they have a TV plan that includes the shows I want to watch on an iOS device or Mac. Comcast also continues to use stupid Flash when trying to access xfinity.tv on my new Mac. Yes, Comcast offers X1 and pushes everything they own but I'd really like to get rid of them. It's difficult for Apple to break into this business when companies like Comcast own the pipe, broadcast and movie companies (NBC Universal).
What part of Comcast owning the pipe did Apple not know about? As to content, how did Amazon become successful?
I bought a video from iTunes once and it was the most ridiculous experience ever. I don't have an apple tv anymore but assumed I could airplay it or chromecast it to any number of various devices in my home (samsung/lg/philips smart tv's, xbox one, fire sticks etc. etc.) nope, didn't work. tried to download it on my computer and play the video file since I had "bought" it... nope, drm protected. try to strip the drm, nope not without paying £££ for a decent program to do it. I ended up buying the same video from amazon (cheaper I'll add) and hey presto - it plays on every device around the house, I can even download the file on those devices for offline viewing. Apple usually win on the UI side of things but iTunes is still a horrible experience for me. Unless you are 100% all-in apple products, it's just not worth it.
tried to download it on my computer and play the video file since I had "bought" it... nope, drm protected.
Actually, that should have worked. Once you've purchased a title from the iTunes Store you can play it on any device (up to the policy limit) you have "activated" to play your content. Go into iTunes and activate the computer. Then your iTunes Store content should play fine.
As for everything else you said, I feel your pain.
Comments
Apple TV – Day 1 had first good scrubbing system, that uses touch and had no delay in loading the scrubber thumbnail for current position.
Seriously the ATV whining is baseless and boils down to “But there’s no 4K!” as if any normals cared about this.
I don't know of Amazon (not the prime included streaming, but the explicit purchase / rental) - perhaps a little cheaper with promotions?
I am not arguing that Apple hasn't put any real effort into iTunes media - this is a fact - but I haven't seen any real cheaper competition for "this media".
https://support.apple.com/en-us/ht201611
Watch your movie rental across devices
Movies you rent are available to watch on each device associated with your Apple ID. Make sure you're on the latest version of iOS, tvOS, or iTunes available, then follow the steps below to find your rentals.
I'm not saying the iTunes Store is a bad choice -- I still use it regularly -- but I'm not sure there's any guarantee of better quality video associated with it.
48 hours in Canada too. Maybe it's part of the Agreement Apple makes with the studios, and isn't something Apple can control unilaterally.
I don't pretend to have any knowledge whatsoever of how prices are set across various distribution methods, so I don't know if the reasons for the differences lie with the seller or the distributor. I just know that the savings are usually enough to justify the extra step required for me to rip a disc. That means Apple doesn't see any of my money.
Again, I don't know why pricing is the way it is, but as the guy spending the money, it doesn't really matter to me. It just means I don't buy media from Apple as often as I'd prefer to.
Apple usually win on the UI side of things but iTunes is still a horrible experience for me. Unless you are 100% all-in apple products, it's just not worth it.