iTunes survey asks about instant streaming video
A new Apple customer survey asks iPad users about instantly available video from iTunes, possibly hinting at upcoming streaming or cloud-based services.
The survey, reported by Engadget, questions consumers about their "satisfaction" with iTunes video purchases or rentals on the iPad.
Since the iPad currently requires iTunes video files to finish downloading before playback, one of the available answers, "Titles are available to watch instantly," is inaccurate. An instantaneous iTunes video feature is unavailable for the iPad at this time, but is supposedly in the works.
The timing of the survey is of particular interest, as it comes just days before Apple's annual September media event, where the Cupertino, Calif., company is expected to refresh its iPod Touch and iPod Nano offerings.
Apple is reportedly in talks with content providers to offer 99 cent streaming rentals of TV shows, which would be offered alongside an updated Apple TV, recast as the iTV. It remains unclear whether streaming video and the iTV set top box will be announced at Wednesday's event.
Although some industry insiders expect a cloud-based iTunes service by the end of the year, recent reports point to an iTunes update focusing on new features that are "social, not streaming."
The survey, reported by Engadget, questions consumers about their "satisfaction" with iTunes video purchases or rentals on the iPad.
Since the iPad currently requires iTunes video files to finish downloading before playback, one of the available answers, "Titles are available to watch instantly," is inaccurate. An instantaneous iTunes video feature is unavailable for the iPad at this time, but is supposedly in the works.
The timing of the survey is of particular interest, as it comes just days before Apple's annual September media event, where the Cupertino, Calif., company is expected to refresh its iPod Touch and iPod Nano offerings.
Apple is reportedly in talks with content providers to offer 99 cent streaming rentals of TV shows, which would be offered alongside an updated Apple TV, recast as the iTV. It remains unclear whether streaming video and the iTV set top box will be announced at Wednesday's event.
Although some industry insiders expect a cloud-based iTunes service by the end of the year, recent reports point to an iTunes update focusing on new features that are "social, not streaming."
Comments
With all the competition, I'd be surprised if Apple didn't do this.
What 'competition?' On which planet?
What 'competition?' On which planet?
When it comes to streaming there is a lot of competition out there from Hulu, Netflix, YouTube is pushing into that market, all the major stations seem to have their own full length shows. It?s amazing the number of years of NOVA episodes on PBS you can watch. Then there is streaming from VoD services on cable (I?m not sure if satellite has that, too).
I think competition for streaming is so common that I doubt Apple would go this route unless the content owners really forced the issues during negotiations or if Apple saw streaming over downloading as their longterm goal to win online video and/or the living room like they did with the iTunes Music Store and the iPod.
Where Apple seems to be standing alone is with downloadable content that be moved between certain machines and viewed without commercials and without being online. There are some streaming services that offer no ads (eg: Netflix) and there are some movie rental services that offer downloaded content (eg:XBOX Live) but I netiher of these seems to be a match for the number of devices that can playback FairPlay protected content.
Then again, so are Facebook and Twitter (dumbest, ever).
So this question could simply be a question part of identifying the proportion of people who say they have an iPad when they don't.