There has been widespread anticipation and rumours of a deal
being concocted by Apple and Fox ahead of Macworld Expo ’08.
Now the details have been revealed by the big media.
The
Financial Times reported (in its trademark
salmon-colored pages) that Apple
and 20th Century Fox,
a entity held by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, inked a deal
that would grant
iTunes users the
option to rent films produced by the studio.
The news of the impending partnership comes in anticipation of
the consumer-centric conference to be held at Moscone West in San
Francisco, California.
Share Prices Immediately Up
An immediate result of the announcement was the journey of
Apple’s share price on the NASDAQ exchange north of $200 for
a short while Wednesday. The stock fell to 198.95 by the closing bell,
and today (as of 10AM EST) spends its first few hours in play at about
$202.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs presumably welcomes very much the bullish
attitude investors have portrayed as the company approaches zero hour
and the head himself prepares (with classically specialistic attention
paid to the minutiae of the his hallmark Keynote presentation in
particular) for the Expo to take place from January 14 through 18.
Macworld Expo
Though Macworld Expos of years past have traditionally been
points in time in which Apple (previously known officially as Apple
Computer, Inc) has debuted new and/or refreshed hardware offerings and
staples, next month’s event is likely to be spent by the
Cupertino-based company promoting advances in software.
Hence the chatter about the expected emergence of digital,
over-the-Web video rentals.
Whether Apple can seduce production studios large and small in
addition to 20th Century Fox will of course determine the likelihood of
the storefront’s success.
Video Not iTunes Strong Point
While iTunes music has sold at a brisk rate for the past
couple of years, its video selection – comprised of feature
films, television programs, and those clips once broadcasted by the MTV
network – has shown to have a far less notable trajectory.
They do sell, mind you. The TV catalogue in particular has
garnered considerable attention since its small (though ambitious)
beginnings. Only, on the whole, they take a distant back seat to the
storefront’s digital audio warehouse.
But there’s has been ample evidence as of late that
the desire for on-demand Internet solutions has grown quite a
bit.
The sheer idea of iTunes movie rentals has stirred bloggers
ever since Apple introduced its Front Row media software (and later its
Apple TV set-top box) to formulate predictions as to when the Man in
Black and Blue will “do things right,” as it were,
and establish an alternative or partnership to/with Netflix or some
other movie subscription service.
Clearly the answer to such inquiries is now writ large across
the Net: the moment is soon to arrive.
Time Sensitive Distribution?
Unfortunately, if the Financial Times is eminently correct in
its assertion that Apple will work with an arrangement that involves
the time-sensitive distribution of film titles
to iTunes users via its rental system-to-be, the debut to come in
mid-January may well be met with mixed reviews.
The “time-sensitive” concept has long lost
its acceptance among consumers. Instead, the Netflix-like
pay-per-month-and-keep-a-set-number-of-films-indefinitely has become
the new norm.
Our own assumption as to what we can expect to arrive as an
iTunes update next month is that the release will be met with
begrudging disappointment (but acceptance still).
Though Mr Jobs is tasked with pleasing the content providers
as much as his own company’s customer base today, the fact
that inconvenient compromises will have to be made by potential renters
to satisfy their demands will mean any approval of the new move is
bound to be less than wholehearted.
Paul Glazowski is a contributing author discussing the social networking world, his work can be found on Profy.com
