Well, it’s been rumored for awhile that Apple was coming up with an iPod-friendly movie rental service. According to Macworld, the rumor has officially come true. Jobs announced that movies will be downloadable from iTunes and AppleTV for Blockbuster-esque prices: $3.99 for new releases and $2.99 for older flicks. HD movies will be available for AppleTV, priced at $4.99 for new releases and $3.99 for those movies you didn’t bother watching the first time around. All films remain on your computer for 30 days, and once you start watching it you have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you like.
The hitch in this news? Jobs announced the launch for today, yet nary a rental is to be found on the iTunes store! There’s a “most popular rentals” widget with a short list of titles, which is a little disingenuous considering that nobody has been able to actually rent these flicks.
Personally, I don’t understand why everyone is so hasty to name this the “end of Netflix.” (Shares for Netflix and Blockbuster are already falling.) Granted, as a Mac user I’m excited to have a digital rental option for Apple computers (something Netflix has been failing to provide). There’s also the portability perk in that you can switch the flick over to your iPod and watch it offline… but there seems to be too many cons to the execution of this rental service. First of all, the price is pretty high considering the overhead is lower than in a brick-and-mortar video rental joint. After all, the supermarket down the street has $1/24hr rentals and they’re paying thousands a month in rent and minimum wage and have room for a smaller selection. Secondly, the 24-hour limit is downright annoying. Netflix offers unlimited access to their “Watch Now” feature – though only to PC uses.
It’s hard to tell who will win out this battle. iTunes definitely will attract the Mac users and perhaps the people who only occasionally watch films and don’t want to make the $15/month commitment to Netflix. Apple will have to step up their selection (numbered at 100 flicks right now, with a projected assortment of 1,000 films by the end of February) if they want to compete with Netflix in the race for online rentals, though… Especially if Netflix makes their “Watch Now” feature available to Mac users as planned.
Since I got a chance to test out Netflix’s online rental service on a PC over winter break, I may be posting a review of the feature soon… We’ll see.
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