'Neat stuff coming' soon to iTunes Store, Apple teases
When asked about the level of content available on the iTunes Store, Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer revealed that the company plans to offer "neat stuff" in the next quarter.
The comment was a rare tease at future products, as Apple is notoriously tight lipped about its plans. Oppenheimer offered the small detail when asked about the amount of content available on the iTunes Store.
The information came in response to a question from analyst Brian Marshall with Gleacher & Company, who asked why Apple doesn't offer more movie titles on iTunes. One estimate from Marshall in late 2010 estimated that the iTunes movie rental service is one-tenth the size of market leader Netflix.
"We have a very, very broad library of movies and TV shows, particularly here in the U.S.," Oppenheimer said in response. "We add more content internationally in each quarter, and look for more content coming this quarter across the various stores. We have some neat stuff coming."
Before this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, numerous reports indicated that Apple had reached streaming music agreements with all four major record companies. But at WWDC, Apple's formal announcement of the iCloud service only included the $25-per-year iTunes Match, which allows users to re-download songs they have purchased elsewhere, rather than stream their collection without using up local storage space.
While those rumors primarily revolved around music, at least one report indicated that Apple was pursuing licensing deals with movie and TV studios as well. If those deals were to be reached, it could allow users to remotely store and stream copyrighted video content over the Internet.
By offering access to copyrighted content from any Internet-connected device, Apple could allow a user to access their entire media library of movies, music and TV shows without the need to locally store any of it on a device with limited capacity, like an iPhone or iPad.
Detailing Apple's alleged talks with Hollywood studios, Greg Sandoval of CNet said in May that Apple had already been in discussions for over a year. One major snag allegedly in the way of a deal was said to be the so-called "HBO window," in which three of the top six film studios have a distribution deal with HBO.
Though Apple made no mention of streaming movies or music when it announced iCloud, the service is not set to launch in its entirety until this fall, which has led to speculation that streaming could be an unannounced feature that will be unveiled at a later date. iCloud will be a free service that will include the former MobileMe services, including contacts, calendar and mail; the App Store and iBookstore; iCloud backup; iCloud storage; iCloud Photo Stream; and iTunes in the Cloud.
The comment was a rare tease at future products, as Apple is notoriously tight lipped about its plans. Oppenheimer offered the small detail when asked about the amount of content available on the iTunes Store.
The information came in response to a question from analyst Brian Marshall with Gleacher & Company, who asked why Apple doesn't offer more movie titles on iTunes. One estimate from Marshall in late 2010 estimated that the iTunes movie rental service is one-tenth the size of market leader Netflix.
"We have a very, very broad library of movies and TV shows, particularly here in the U.S.," Oppenheimer said in response. "We add more content internationally in each quarter, and look for more content coming this quarter across the various stores. We have some neat stuff coming."
Before this year's Worldwide Developers Conference, numerous reports indicated that Apple had reached streaming music agreements with all four major record companies. But at WWDC, Apple's formal announcement of the iCloud service only included the $25-per-year iTunes Match, which allows users to re-download songs they have purchased elsewhere, rather than stream their collection without using up local storage space.
While those rumors primarily revolved around music, at least one report indicated that Apple was pursuing licensing deals with movie and TV studios as well. If those deals were to be reached, it could allow users to remotely store and stream copyrighted video content over the Internet.
By offering access to copyrighted content from any Internet-connected device, Apple could allow a user to access their entire media library of movies, music and TV shows without the need to locally store any of it on a device with limited capacity, like an iPhone or iPad.
Detailing Apple's alleged talks with Hollywood studios, Greg Sandoval of CNet said in May that Apple had already been in discussions for over a year. One major snag allegedly in the way of a deal was said to be the so-called "HBO window," in which three of the top six film studios have a distribution deal with HBO.
Though Apple made no mention of streaming movies or music when it announced iCloud, the service is not set to launch in its entirety until this fall, which has led to speculation that streaming could be an unannounced feature that will be unveiled at a later date. iCloud will be a free service that will include the former MobileMe services, including contacts, calendar and mail; the App Store and iBookstore; iCloud backup; iCloud storage; iCloud Photo Stream; and iTunes in the Cloud.
Comments
I'm going to guess it's subscription pricing on Apple TV. Nothing else really makes sense to me right now.
I wouldn't call that "neat stuff" though.
My guess is it still has to be some kind of media content like a slew of old movies or television programming like the Jackie Gleason SHow, Leave it to Beaver, stuff like that. Nothing to get excited about just "neat stuff".
Highly unlikely.
I'm going to guess it's subscription pricing on Apple TV. Nothing else really makes sense to me right now.
That would be nice. I'd drop Netflix in a heart beat if that were the case.
Netflix library of content for download isn't very good. Better than most but not quite there. Now they are jacking-up the price but not stating that the content selection will get better. I have heard quite the opposite in that they are losing content providers.
That would be nice. I'd drop Netflix in a heart beat if that were the case.
Netflix library of content for download isn't very good. Better than most but not quite there. Now they are jacking-up the price but not stating that the content selection will get better. I have heard quite the opposite in that they are losing content providers.
I am quite sure the instant movies price for Netflix is not going up. It is going up if you do both. You should be fine if you only steam.
That would be nice. I'd drop Netflix in a heart beat if that were the case.
Netflix library of content for download isn't very good. Better than most but not quite there. Now they are jacking-up the price but not stating that the content selection will get better. I have heard quite the opposite in that they are losing content providers.
True,
I am paying less because I finally was motivated to drop the DVD service I never used.
I would also point out that Netflix has added massive amounts of new (old) TV shows in the past 12 months.
Before offering anymore "stuff" they should sort out the level of search capabilities and categorisations of content as currently it is very very poor.
Hear, hear.
That would be nice. I'd drop Netflix in a heart beat if that were the case.
Netflix library of content for download isn't very good. Better than most but not quite there. Now they are jacking-up the price but not stating that the content selection will get better. I have heard quite the opposite in that they are losing content providers.
I just suspended my Netflix account. The streaming quality is truly pathetic. Heck, I don't mind 'HD' as even SD, but the badly pixelated stuff that Netflix spews out every few minutes? Unacceptable. And frustrating.
They're not ready for prime time.
That would be nice. I'd drop Netflix in a heart beat if that were the case.
Netflix library of content for download isn't very good. Better than most but not quite there. Now they are jacking-up the price but not stating that the content selection will get better. I have heard quite the opposite in that they are losing content providers.
Trouble being that Netflix's availability and pricing isn't because they're doing it wrong, it's because they're dealing with the same recalcitrant rights owners that Apple is.
Apple isn't going to get access to more streaming content than Netflix and it's unlikely that Apple's pricing model would undermine Netflix, were they to go to that model.
Simple!
1080p video in iTunes accompanying an A5 Apple TV.
Simple!
That sounds like nest tuff to me.
1080p video in iTunes accompanying an A5 Apple TV.
Simple!
I'd buy that for a dollar!
GIGO. The truth in all of life.
Only heard of TiTo and the lot, not GiGo. So thanQ Smiles77.
Garbage In, Gospel Out is a more recent expansion of the acronym. It is a sardonic comment on the tendency to put excessive trust in "computerized" data, and on the propensity for individuals to blindly accept what the computer says. Because the data goes through the computer, people tend to believe it.
Decision-makers increasingly face computer-generated information and analyses that could be collected and analyzed in no other way. Precisely for that reason, going behind that output is out of the question, even if one has good cause to be suspicious. In short, the computer analysis becomes the gospel. (Wiki)
Before offering anymore "stuff" they should sort out the level of search capabilities and categorisations of content as currently it is very very poor.
I agree, and it's not only poor in the store. Seach capability in iTunes itself is piss-poor, in my TNHO.
Porn movies arriving on iTunes, at last?
We can only hope.
Whatever it is, they need to expand their content library massively.
Agreed that iTunes has more recent releases, but still.