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Mar 05, 08 - 05:26 pm Comment from: Spark

Can't argue with MDN take this time.

Mar 05, 08 - 05:26 pm Comment from: Jimbo von Winskinheimer

It's not in Steve's blood to do this, but perhaps he should say "I'd like to have..."
I'd like to have the PPC chip up to 3ghz
I'd like to have 8 million iPhones sold
I'd like to have 1000 movies on iTMS

We still love ya' Steve.

Mar 05, 08 - 05:30 pm Comment from: JAYGEE

These days it's harder to see where Apple begins and Microsoft ends.

Mar 05, 08 - 05:42 pm Comment from: Think

@ JAYGEE

Right.....
Your going to confuse Apple with Microsoft, the creator of mediocre and destroyer of many pieces of software over the last 15 years?

Mar 05, 08 - 05:52 pm Comment from: mr_matalino

Wow.

Go MDN. Not very often they don't defend Apple.

iMovie '08 anyone?

but MDN, its ONLY 5 DAYS!

WILL SOMEONE GET RID OF THESE LAME OBAMA BANNERS!

PUHHLEEASE!

Mar 05, 08 - 05:58 pm Comment from: JAYGEE

@ Think - Your going to confuse Apple with Microsoft, the creator of mediocre and destroyer of many pieces of software over the last 15 years?

Yes I am. They may not be the same now, but if Apple keeps promising stuff, and then not keep them, things will get worse. :p

Good things come to him who waits.

Mar 05, 08 - 06:06 pm Comment from: Jubei

Told ya. Oh yeah didn't that Thurott call Apple liars, yet he goes whatever with MS and their "Vista Capable BS". Maybe he needs to correct that article he wrote calling Apple Liars.

mdn may be conservative, or give the impression of its conservativism, but its also a business. businesses need money, presidential campaigns spend money like its going out of style. can't fault them for wanting to make a $. it's the american way.

Movies are like software: 90% of the titles suck.

I'd rather see 100 hit titles than 1000 no-name ones.

Give things time, the studios will eventually come around. They need revenue a lot more than Apple needs them.

Mar 05, 08 - 06:14 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

The studios had better hurry and get us 'used' to watching rentals.

Otherwise in a few months we'll get used to watching live streaming free YouTube TV instead (with ads).

Yep, I think Steve got bit by this one. In the past they have had the integration mostly internal to Apple so as to make the dates advertised. Now with the products needing integration with many outside sources, the task is more difficult than before. Lesson learned, but that only makes you better in the long run.

presidential campaigns spend money like its going out of style. can't fault them for wanting to make a $. it's the american way.

Very true.

I for one would be happy to sell Obama all the web space he'd ever want.

Note the word SELL. And damned if it's gonna be cheap.

The problem here is that Apple has to depend upon the studios to get the rights they need, which may or may not have been disclosed to Apple when the studios signed their deals with Apple.

Apple needs to take note: Apple used to simply surprise us with "Here it is right now!" and has moved to "We'll have it for you in a month!", only things in the technology/intellectual property/artist world don't work at the same paces or on the same time tables.

Apple would be better served going to occasional, invitation announcements and not worry so much about Macworld or WWDC (which has diminished as far as announcements go anyway), and therefore could make sure everything was ready before dropping the bomb.

One word, "Lawyers".

Enough said.

Mar 05, 08 - 06:39 pm Comment from: 7over

Definition: Lawyer. See "Charlatan" pg. 89

Mar 05, 08 - 06:46 pm Comment from: mike_in_helsinki

Yes, it does matter whose fault it is MDN!

Jobs and Apple have to depend on the promises made to them by the studios. THEY broke the promise, not Apple. It is THEIR content, THEIR timetable, THEIR promise.

Its fair for Jobs go on the assumption that THEY will keep THEIR promise and communicate to customers the publishing timetable.

Lay off Apple and Jobs on this one.

Mar 05, 08 - 06:53 pm Comment from: Ampar

The Writers Guild strike (and demand for video download compensation) had to be a factor.

MDN is right this time!!! So is Spark.

Mar 05, 08 - 07:20 pm Comment from: ken1w

Well, obviously it's the fault of the studios. If it was just a matter of encoding the movies and putting them on the server, Apple could have 10,000 rental movies by now.

I think it does matter whose fault it is. Apple can't sell content that is not being made available. If Apple had a shortfall in Mac inventory because Intel stopped providing chips for some reason, would that be Apple's fault?

Why is this process for getting approval any different than 'On-Demand' vids? Seems like a lame excuse(either by the studios or Jobs).

Mar 05, 08 - 07:40 pm Comment from: Vanillacide

Last week <b>The Economist</i> magazine wrote that the cause of the delay was the writers strike, and the delay will probably continue because of the forthcoming actors strike; but they believed that after that is resolved the studios will go full-steam-ahead with Apple and also enable the purchase of HD movies as well as rental.

Mar 05, 08 - 07:45 pm Comment from: Ampar

" . . . but they believed that after that is resolved the studios will go full-steam-ahead with Apple and also enable the purchase of HD movies as well as rental."

So, that Stephen Baldwin/Pauly Shore comeback film is still on track?

Whew.

It's truly sad that mac users don't understand business. Even MDN wants is being bratty.

Too bad Jobs trusted the studios to come through. I'm sure the studios told them they'd be able to do it or else it wouldn't have been said.

This one falls all on the shoulders of the movie studios.

There is life beyond the aqua desktop...

Wow MDN... you are just sooooo smart. You thought of that idea all by yourself before anyone else did.

You're the answer to get my AAPL shares back above 200 points.

Just let Steve do his Jobs. There's a reason whey he's where he is and you're running a blog.

Amen! That's is what I keep thinking! Get a life! Shit happens and it isn't always going to be Apples fault.

Mar 05, 08 - 08:38 pm Comment from: MacBill

Although I still think that the AppleTV is absolutely ridiculous (I don't want to spend $229 just so I can then rent 24-hour-limited movies at $3 or $4 a pop), I do agree that if Apple wants to sell more of these, they absolutely need to ADVERTISE THIS PRODUCT ON TELEVISION! People don't even know that this product exists!

Mar 05, 08 - 08:43 pm Comment from: Mac4lfe

If Apple waited on the 1000 movies to be ready before announcing Apple TV 2 then people would still complain that Apple was late to the game. Your wrong MDN.
All this did not stop me from renting at least 10 movies already and there are many more left to rent.

MacBill I gotta tell ya we love our ATV. The HD rentals (at least the four we have viewed) beat anything we get from either our Directv or Comcast HD movies. Way better for us than the mail order and blockbuster stuff we used to do. Don't knock it till you try it.

Mar 05, 08 - 09:03 pm Comment from: mm

I have to give MDN props for not siding with Apple this time. For ONCE they looked at reality and not through Apple colored glasses.

Good job MDN!!

Mar 05, 08 - 09:14 pm Comment from: TowerTone

According to David Pogue, Vudu has 5,000 movies.

What's the difference?

they absolutely need to ADVERTISE THIS PRODUCT ON TELEVISION!

Kinda like when people marketed cars via horseback, no?

Gotta wonder how much the networks want to speed their own obsolescence...

Mar 05, 08 - 09:24 pm Comment from: Ampar

To Vanillacide:
I'm so glad no one has suggested that before. Thanks for your clearer insight.

Mar 05, 08 - 09:42 pm Comment from: Ampar

We've missed the contributions of Linux Guy and Mac Prodigal Son for some time now. I hope for the best.

Mar 05, 08 - 10:19 pm Comment from: Anonymous©

Are people actually complaining about this? I mean, in a couple weeks, when the studios get caught up on their encoding, who will care?

Is it just me, or the only people who parse Steve's words so carefully, are tech analysts.

I think, Mr. Jobs is showing a bit of patience here with the studios. The studios may feel they have his hands tied this time around and he has to oblige to their dance bit at every whim. But I doubt that Steve has shown his entire hand. Seriously, were Apple to unleash the ATV capable of playing every torrented divx, xvid, xor, avi, wmv and what not out of the box including many of the hacks already available, and a built in Applesque iTorrent service to top it off, you may see the same movie moguls begging him back to the dark side.
:o )
Hybrid with a small footprint of (Apple TV+MacMini+Airport Extreme) + iTorrent = dorm room domination today, the world tomorrow.
MDN Magic Word is 'range'. You go connect the dots on that.

@Ampar

Linux Guy and Mac Prodigal Son is a member of the forums at theMacObserver and last posted there february 8th, fyi.

Mar 05, 08 - 11:25 pm Comment from: scattershooting

Getting approval $$$ is it that difficult? Pennies on the dollar. Digitize all the movies and watch the $$$ roll in.

As I said before...

Lets see it takes about an hour for a computer (not mine) to rip a movie from a DVD. So a 1000 movies would take about 42 days (on _1_ computer working around the clock) to convert movies for download. I am just guessing here, but I believe that

Apple or ( the movie studios) have more than one computer to devote to this task.

Mmmm... Just imagine if:

1 computer could have done the job in 42 days
10 computers could have done the job in 4.2 days
100 computers could have done the job in 10 hours
200 computers could have done the job in 5 hours


Yep, missed it by THAT much!

For anyone that thinks, for a second, that MDN would be better at managing Apple than Steve Jobs, well there is a job at Microsoft for you matey...

For everyone else, Apple is cementing (that's right CEMENTING) it's ownership of the video rental market slowly and carefully. Steve Jobs has to ensure he doesn't frighten the horses (film studios) and that he can deliver the bandwidth to support large numbers of downloads. None of this happens quickly - hence Apple TV is downplayed at every opportunity.

It will fly - but all in good time.

In the meantime, sit back and watch a master at work

I don't think I remember Jobs saying "We PROMISE to have...

1000 movies is just a goal. Doesn't mean the goal will be reached.

I'm a Creative Director for a large company. Why Apple hasn't gotten this thing out there on the air waves is beyond me. If our company had a product like this, and our marketing team wasn't behind it, we would all be looking for jobs right now. This is a HUGE MISTAKE to not market this thing. MDN is right on this one. Apple, don't be dumb here, you could solidify your dominance in the living room if you get the word out. C'mon guys, you know better!

I don't rememeber this argument from MDN when Leopard was pushed back. The movie studios suck and they're playing with Apple. Too bad the studios can't see the profits they could have if they work a little with Apple, but hey, politics as usual.

Mar 06, 08 - 09:18 am Comment from: grok

I'm just glad they've got 'Changing Lanes' on there. I hope they concentrate on the whole Ben Affleck catalogue - Pearl Harbor, Paycheck, Gigli, Jersey Girl - these are the kind of films that will set iTunes apart as, well, something...

I'd say they're holding off on the ad blitz until they have all their ducks in order. LOTS of movies in the queue is definitely a huge part of the equation here. If they sell a product with skimpy content, it will hurt their image. Be patient, it's all coming. If it were easy, it would have already been done.

Anyone notice the few titles that they have added are RENT ONLY? WTF? Why are they not available for purchase?

I don't rent movies, I buy them.
The prices are TOO HIGH for the stingy restrictions.
There is way too much low-brow sh*t in the new releases.

Handbrake and a $9.99 DVD is 'Mo Better than a DRM laden download or a rental that costs almost half for 24 hours.

Mar 06, 08 - 12:04 pm Comment from: alansky

As the saying goes: "The perfect is the enemy of the good."

Apple fans should know by now that Steve and Apple are always trying as hard as humanly possible to do what they say they will do. So give it a rest, MDN. There's no reason to come on with this "don't promise unless you can deliver!" bullcrap. If Apple never took chances, none of us would be sitting where we are right now.

Americans and their Presidential elections.

Last election it was a clear choice between opposites.

Very divisive.

The next time it's shaping up to be a three way race between a liberal black man, a liberal white woman and, on the other side, a liberal white man.

No real choice and yet it will still be divisive.

Will America vote for a black man or a white woman or will it hold it's nose and fail to punish the Republicans?

No mater who wins, the country will have a liberal President.

Why vote at all?