[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Analyst: iTunes Movie Rentals a 'Game-Changer' here

[GuildenNL]

The "analyst" obviously worships in the Church of Steve Jobs. Amazon.com is a much bigger game changer than small potatoes Apple.
Why would Americans lock into a proprietary, overpriced model when they can get the same for less as well as the ability to get content wherever they want? Answer: They won't.
Another example: MacAir = eePC at 10 times the price. Late to market, overpriced. Classic Apple.

[mknopp]

The "commenter" GuildenNL obviously worships in the Church of Steve Jobs Haters. Such obvious one sided comments and opinions do nothing to contribute to any discussion. Ridiculous comments like "small potatoes Apple" just proves how biased his/her opinion is. A better approach is to try pointing out facts instead of trying to embellish reality.
For instance, they are completely wrong that Amazon is not proprietary content, nor can it be viewed wherever they want.
It is further ludicrous to compare the MacBook Air to the EePC. Try a real comparison to make your point.
Truth is that this report is VERY optimistic about Apple's chances. I do not see the movie rentals that Apple is offering as being even close to the iTunes music phenomenon. Sure, there were other music download services when Apple entered the game, but Apple offered something that none of the others did. An easy to use interface and a nice piece of hardware to play it on. This time they do not necessarily have that.

[JitteryJimmy]

Apple is certainly attempting to be a game-changer in the world of on-live movies, but many analysts would see and understand that Apple is very spotty in terms of delivering successful products.
The Mac still accounts for less than 10% of the world-wide PC market, and far less than 10% of the world-wide cell phone market. Excellent products like the Zune are quickly destroying the antiquated iPod brand, and despite Vista's initial issues, it has still outsold the even more troublesome Leopard.
Apple is even turning its heals on the Notebook market... it once had a wonderful 17" laptop, but now it is going to a feature-poor 13" thin book? It looks like Jobs is shooting in all directions, but with no aim and with no substance. I can only imagine that they will have a copyright lawsuit with Nike over the Air name.
Any way you look, Microsoft is still the mindshare leader in all categories, and Apple is merely hanging onto what little it has got.

[modz]

Ha-ha, dreamers like JitteryJimmy may wish today's Apple didn't enjoy the success it does but the results are plain to see: Yes less than 10% of the PC market - but it's the profitable end of the market - they aren't the most profitable PC company on the planet for nothing! And 'excellent' products like the Zune? Ha! You mean the one that had to be sold at fire-sale prices? The one that is making NO gains against the iPod - only against other PC-only products? Wake up friend. If you stand back and look at the bigger picture, you might see that Apple actually has an ecosystem that dominates the whole media content widget: Hardware and software that produces media content > iTunes store that sells/distributes the content - running on Apple server hardware/software > Apple software clients (iTunes) that downloads and plays the content on PC/Macs AND then distributes that content to... > devices like iPods/iPhone/AppleTV. The MBA is just another component in a carefully planned strategy.

[GuildenNL]

Look at Apple computing market share globally: 0.01%
That's small potatoes to me.
"Apple actually has an ecosystem that dominates the whole media content widget: Hardware and software that produces media content > iTunes store that sells/distributes the content - running on Apple server hardware/software > Apple software clients (iTunes) that downloads and plays the content on PC/Macs AND then distributes that content to... > devices like iPods/iPhone/AppleTV."
Is the exact reason why Apple is about to be hit across the forehead by the EC Competition Office, as well as content providers. Trying to be a monopoly through a proprietary approach is going to cost Apple big.
BTW, I own a Zune Gen 1 and a Samsung YP-P2 - both are infinitely better products than the Apple Gen 5 Nano that a vendor gave me. The Nano freezes up constantly. As far as Amazon's music being able to be used anywhere, not sure what you're smoking mknopp, it's perfectly free of DRM and I can use it on any device.

[MattN212]

I'm a multi-platform person. There are times i like the Mac better and times i like the PC Better. I think Itunes will be popular among ITunes users. In My Opinion, 2.99-3.99 per movie is too expensive for my taste, when i can use netflix, for $16 a month, get 3 DVD Rentals, and all the unlimited streaming i want. If they want to make a dent in the market they need to maybe lower prices or something similar. I think the people are going to stay where they are. Use ITunes >> going to continue. Use Netflix >> going to continue. Just my opinion

[mekingpin]

To all of the Apple-heads out there: please stop making silly claims about the technical superiority of apple products, or the innovation of apple... please.

Apple makes fashionable products that look great and cost more money... like mercedes, like bang & olufson, like Starbucks, like Gucci... that's it. At the end of the day, your iPhone, iPod, AirMacs are fashion statements that give you a feeling of "cool".

Apple does not make better products, merely better looking products. Disagree? Please name one thing your iPhone, iPod, Mac, AirMac does that a comparable priced non-Mac product doesn't do? Or, name one feature to an apple product that was new to the market when introduced by Apple? Answer, none.

They just make the product look great, and make the product appealing to fashion concerned.
Please

[scanner]

What point are you attempting to make, GuildenNL? Your funky stats and rabid denial of any success on Apple's part pretty much nullifies any credibility you might have. The Zune is infinitely better than an iPod? Really? INFINITELY better? That's funny, they seem to be nearly identical devices in layout and function, as far as I can tell. But hey, whatever you say. Global share of 0.01% of all the kazillion PC's sold at about a 1% profit margin? Who wants to be king of THAT playground? Here's a real fact for you: Apple Inc.'s share of the U.S. personal computer market for the third quarter of 2007 was 8.1 percent. As for Amazon, their store is great and merges seamlessly with iTunes. If anyone will gain traction against the iTunes store, Amazon will. And we will put their music right on our iPods. ;-) iTunes movie rentals? Does nothing for me. What can I say.

[mknopp]

GuildenNL, you are blowing smoke and using mirrors. This article is in reference to videos. Nothing else. No matter how much you fanatics (Yes I am lumping fanatical Mac haters in with fanatical Mac lovers. You are all zealots and unreasonable.) want to turn this into a Mac vs. Windows debate it is not that so please stick to the facts under discussion. The fact that Amazon music downloads are DRM free is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand, videos. The videos that you download from Amazon are riddle with DRM, just like the videos you download from iTunes. The videos that you download from Amazon cannot be watched on any device at any time. The videos on Amazon and iTunes are not enough different to make any deciding factor. As for the percentage of Mac computers referenced by you and JitteryJimmy, what does that have to do with anything? Amazon's global share of computer sales is 0%. So are they small potatoes? And what does that have to do with this article?

[mknopp]

mekingpin, I do not own an iphone or a macbook air, but I can tell you one thing that they do that no other comparably priced competitor does. Multitouch. As for technical superiority, you are correct. They are not technically superior, they are using the same components as everyone else and their quality assurance has at times been abysmal (bricked iPhones, iMacs with condensation, iPods with screens out of alignment). However, they do deserve credit where it is due. They do innovate. If they didn't then people wouldn't be trying so hard to copy them. What they do is a good job of taking an existing idea and packaging it up into something that people like and is generally easy to use. One analyst put it best. Apple has made a huge name for themselves by providing 80% of the functionality with 20% of the complexity. That is what they do and they deserve credit for that much at least. Unless you are a zealot (Mac hater or lover) and then you are unreasonable and irrelevant.

[mekingpin]

mknopp, sounds like we agree. I wouldn't call Multi-touch an "apple innovation"... several other products use the same/similar tech that pre-date the iphone, albeit, they probably were the first to do it in a cell phone to my knowledge. With that said, the novelty of multi-touch wears-off after awhile when I'm done zooming in and out of maps, once every month.

I give Apple due credit for packaging and making pretty stuff, as my post said, just like B&O, mercedes et al. None of those companies makes the best performing prodcut's in their sphere, but they make pretty stuff.

[scanner]

Ah yes, Mekingpin : "Apple makes fashionable products that look great and cost more money... like mercedes, like bang & olufson, like Starbucks, like Gucci... that's it. At the end of the day, your iPhone, iPod, AirMacs are fashion statements that give you a feeling of "cool"."
You scoff at us puny Apple owners as we scurry about with our "fashion statements". Meanwhile, YOU shop at the Salvation Army, purchasing used pants and half-worn shoes, which function just as well as any of that ridiculous trash the rest of us buy at the shopping mall. How smug you are, with your soiled but workable clothing, and driving your used Neon! I mean, that IS what you do, right?
What has Apple ever come up with that was new? Seriously? Well.. are you familiar with the term "patent" ? Here are a few:
http://www.mad4mobil...s.com/news/562/
What did iPod/ iTunes do, that wasn't done before? Hm, let's see... oh yes, make it ridiculously easy to buy, manage and enjoy digital music?
Why not give credit where it is due? Or is that too painful?

[mekingpin]

I actually own an iPhone, and drive a Lexus (which is glorified better looking Toyota), so please don't attack me personally. I'm simply stating the fact that Apple makes pretty stuff. If you think iTunes was first to market, you are very ill-informed. They may have been the first to mass-market the product, but looking back so was Netscape... so please don't preach from a pulpit that Apple is some company descended directly from the heavens... they package cute stuff... that's it.


Personally, I like the iPhone because it's cool and looks nice, and I like my car because it's cool. I'm not too insecure to admit that. I tired the iPhone for music, but it's a waste since the storage is so limited that I don't use it for music anymore. I have over 100 GB of music and I like having all of it with me in the car, so I have a 80GB player full-up for the plane... in the car, i have a dash mounted touch screen PC (running windows xp tablet.... sorry) with a 300 GB drive that has all of my music, GPS, Broadband Internet and more.


Neither my iPhone or my current car do anything more/less than my previous phone or car did, but they are much better looking and very shiney. So, why must you personalize Apple so much? It's a company that makes stuff, not your mother. Relax. Chill.


Oh and thanks for the article on Patents.... it was great reading... were you serious when you sent that?




Edited by MPHEnterprises - No Personal Attacks

[scanner]

Ah mekingpin. I am not attacking you personally. Just the precept you put forth that Apple users are buying equipment because it makes them feel cool. As a middle-aged dad, I have sadly realized that nothing I buy will make me cool again. I am typing away on my G5 iMac because it allows me to do what I want on the computer, without the endless headache of virus combat that I faced with my last laptop PC. The rest of my family around the country have migrated to Apple computers over the last few years, and the system stability and lack of malware ALONE are well-worth a premium price.

Again, you say "they package cute stuff... that's it". I see a hefty amount of innovation- and this does not necessarily mean new patents or features- I see a beautiful sense of industrial design. The products work well, and unobtrusively, and that reflects a lot of hard work and thought put into the design of the product. In fact, I'd argue that Apple's flair for industrial design is far more important than any technical prowess of their hardware. Maybe that's what you're saying, but not as nicely. ;-)

Shoot, in recent years, the PowerPC was clearly inferior to the Intel CPUs... the only thing clearly superior IMO was the Mac OS. Again- we're talking programming, interface and design- not magical hardware. My new Dell D610 (XP) absolutely struggles to complete more than one task at a time. My kid's 800Mhz eMac can easily download files, burn a CD and fool around in iPhoto, simultaneously. I have come to appreciate the how well Apple products work. I'm a fundamentally lazy guy and I don't want to have to jump thru 12 hoops to do things. As a former graphic designer I appreciate it when things are pleasing to the eye and function the way you expect them to work.

Now, stop being so nice. As for me being silly, yes, my kid points that out frequently.

But hey! What about those video downloads. Will you spend $2.99 or 3.99 per movie? Is this guy's prediction right? I'm in blockbuster movie club- 10 bucks a month and we watch 5 or 6 movies. Hard to see how people will flock to iTunes movie rentals. What's your prediction?

And just who are these analysts, anyhow? And why do they feel compelled to predict everything constantly? I'm an analyst, and I don't predict anything. Am I missing out on something?

[mekingpin]

scanner, my thought on apple movies it's a great add-on sale for all those people that use iTunes, so from apple's perspective, why not. From my perspective, a non-iTunes user, there seems to be plenty of existing ways to do what is rumored to be the "apple play" so it won't impact me whatever it is that they do.

We have block buster 3-pack movie plan and probably watch 3-movies per week. We mail them back and in two-three days I get three more. Some times we go to the store and exchange the movies, by the time we watch the last movie we received from the store, 3 more mailed movies have already arrived so fast that we often have 6 movies at once... All said and done, we probably see 15 movies per month... at $19.99/month, that seems pretty reasonable to me. Plus, we also probably watch pay-per-view (DirecTV) about 2x per month. That covers just about every movie I'd ever want to see, so I'm not sure where Apple fits in my world, or to your point, how Apple, the king of simplifying life, moves the ball forward.