Steve Jobs' screen opening service for online movie rental

The fact that Apple jumped into the online movie rental market has been anticipated by analysts before, but Steve Jobs was still surprised when it allied with all six major Hollywood studios, including two competitors " There is no general team "Sony Pictures and Universal.

Remember that last fall, Universal itself stopped providing NBC TV shows on the iTunes Store, due to disagreement over price and content control.

According to Apple officials, the dispute is still there, but the two sides have decided to "temporarily put aside" for the film sector.

Attractive model

" Previously, big studios loudly announced that they did not want to work with Apple, but their actual actions were completely opposite, " said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu.

" That's because the online movie market is witnessing important changes, but Apple has the best position to lead. Everyone is for their own good. "

With millions of people around the world using regular iTunes to download music or TV shows, Apple has a customer base that every Hollywood studio has to dream about, Wu said.

Under the new service rules, users will be able to watch movies directly on a broadband connection, or download movies and watch them within 30 days. The only condition is that you have to finish watching the movie within 24 hours from the start.

Within 30 days of the DVD release, the online movie will be available on iTunes. As of the end of February, the iTunes database will have more than 1,000 movies of all kinds, at $ 2.99 for old movies and $ 3.99 for new releases. If you want to enjoy the high resolution version, users will have to spend an additional $ 1.

Officially opened in the United States today and will be "exited" from now until the end of the year, the iTunes Movie service is compatible with Mac computers, Windows computers, iPhones, iPods and even Apple TV digital receivers.

Not very successful yet !?

Source: Reuters Speaking at Macworld Exhibition 2008, Jobs acknowledged the company's first attempt to "put movies into the home entertainment room" was not as successful as expected.

" In total, users only buy 7 million movies on iTunes, compared to 125 million TV shows and more than 4 billion songs.

However, rival services like Amazon.com, Netflix, Blockbuster and Vudu.com cannot be more successful than us. All tried to put the movie on the Internet and go to the TV, but then they all did "not yet ".

Last year, the Apple TV digital receiver model was unveiled at Macworld Exhibition 2007. It allows users to download videos and "shoot" data directly from the computer to the TV screen wirelessly.

But with the upgraded version released in 2008, Apple TV can also rent or buy content directly on TV without the need for a computer. At the same time, the selling price has also been reduced from $ 299 to $ 229.

Many analysts hope that download will become a popular form of movie distribution in the future. " The short-term benefits are not very clear, but in the long run, it will draw users to the Apple platform, whether it's Mac, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV, " Wu predicts.

New features

According to the latest statistics released by Apple, sales of Macintosh computers in 2007 reached a record 7 million units, up more than 30% compared to 2006. From a modest market share of 2-3%. which has been around for many years, now Apple controls 8% of the US personal computer market.

Also at Macworld 2008, Jobs unveiled the world's thinnest MacBook Air laptop, but its price seems "slightly above expectations".

This model also does not have an optical disc reader for CD / DVD, because according to Jobs, users can rent movies online via iTunes.

The audience below applauded as Jobs announced a new set of features for the iPhone, such as using this "phone" to position itself on a Web map, texting multiple people. at or customize the home screen.

By the way, Jobs also announced a new software for the iPod Touch music player, whereby users will be able to read emails and enable map functionality with integrated WiFi technology.

Trong Cam