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Dec 27, 07 - 10:34 am Comment from: macnut222

I think the rentals will be between $2 and $4.

I'm going to "guess" that rentals will fall between $2.50 and $3.50.

I hope that Apple does not restrict film rentals solely to owners of AppleTV.

Considering current technological options, what are the estimated times to download a 2 hour film? What is the maximum time that the majority of consumers will be willing to wait to place an order then begin watching a film?

macnutt222:
I also hope that Apple limits cost of rentals to $4.00 for new releases and $2.00 for films greater than six months post release.

I'd say anywhere from $2.98 to $3.00.

How it will feel? My guess is buttery and with warm syrup. At the end of the day though, Netflix is a relatively decent company with a good business model. We'll see how they do.

Dec 27, 07 - 10:53 am Comment from: ndelc

Here's hoping that they make work through TiVo!

Dec 27, 07 - 10:57 am Comment from: It's About Time

I'd say $2.99. Steve likes the .99 thing.

Dec 27, 07 - 10:59 am Comment from: Ampar

But the good news is that, "The Best of Carrot Top", "Richard Simmons Sings the Blues Live in Concert" and Ice Cube's "Are We There Yet?" will be free.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:01 am Comment from: Ampar

"How it will feel?"

I say spongy and cool to the touch with just a hint of peppermint.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:04 am Comment from: iSteve

I just noticed that some of the music videos in my cart are now $1.49 rather than $1.99. For $12 bucks I can purchase 8 rather than 6 videos.

As for rentals, I don't care much about new releases. I have numerous documentary films & older films in my NetFlix queue right now. I pay $14/month and watch about 10-12 films per month.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:04 am Comment from: shen

How will Blockbuster, Amazon, Netflix, Microsoft, Sony, cable, telco, and cellphone companies, and other rivals respond?

i am sorry but if the ppl at blockbuster have 4 brain cells to bang together they are already pestering Steve to get a kiosk that allows people to plug in their iPod and get movie rentals synced up for viewing and transfer to your computer from the pod.

....but i doubt they have 4 brain cells, so......

Dec 27, 07 - 11:11 am Comment from: smackman

@shen,

Very good idea. I would have to agree with you that Blockbuster and other rental facilities may end up having to do this.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:12 am Comment from: Ampar

"....but i doubt they have 4 brain cells, so......"

The last bong hit in the back took them down to two. They now have a corporate wide neuron sharing plan. That explains the glacial pace of service and Napoleon Dynamite expressions.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:12 am Comment from: dallas

I'm hoping for a subscription. $15 per month, but I would probably pay as much as $30 if it included TV and live TV streams.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:13 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

A better question would be;

"How long will it take for DVD Jon to crack the DRM?"

Movies for $3 will appeal to a lot of people

Dec 27, 07 - 11:16 am Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Fred
"What is the maximum time that the majority of consumers will be willing to wait to place an order then begin watching a film?"

No telling for sure, but the service could feasibly let you start watching as soon as there is enough stream in the buffer. I'd think 10 minutes would probably be plenty. But whatever the time, it would be significantly shorter than waiting for your Netflix to come in the mail.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:20 am Comment from: ChrissyOne

Oh, and don't look now, but Wall Street loves this news, apparently.

AAPL up $3.53 realtime.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:25 am Comment from: Ampar

Re: AAPL

Oops. I looked.

What a beautiful sight! And now a third of the market cap. of Exxon Mobil. Come on Apple!

I just find it disgraceful that (although its probably due to negotiation problems) we dont have and sort of movie/tv show options from Apple over here yet. Its been too long and I hope they dont delay for much longer!

If that's the "rental" price I'll say no thanks. I'll stick with NetFlix. I'm paying $8.99 monthly to view some 6-8 offerings. I get true DVD quality plus access to those extra features. Besides, with my DSL access a download will take many hours. Nothing "instant" about that.

Dec 27, 07 - 11:43 am Comment from: January 24, 1984

'was traveling in FL recently, and downloaded "Mad Max" in my hotel room with their standard broadband. Movie started after a few minutes, no stutter or any anomalies at all. Felt just like I'd put a disk in.

Mel Gibson looked very young.

Redbox is $.99 for almost 2 days, so I think customer should have a choice:
$.99 for 48hrs, $1.99 for a week, $2.99 for a month,
and rent-to-buy option

Dec 27, 07 - 12:16 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

"How long will it take for DVD Jon to crack the DRM?"

Why would you bother when downloadable movies are free on pirate sites or you could just use handbrake? Apple's solution (if it is real) is for those who legitimately want to pay for rentals - me.

My questions are: how big is Fox's movie library? Will they put their whole catalog online or just the old shows? Will it encourage others to jump on board?

Dec 27, 07 - 12:24 pm Comment from: Ampar

"how big is Fox's movie library?"
http://www.foxmovies.com/index.html

Click on Past Favorites.

"Will it encourage others to jump on board?"

Only those without hidden agendas, mild to severe retardation, Luddite philosophies or any combination of these attributes.

Dec 27, 07 - 12:26 pm Comment from: dallas

Here is why Apple will succeed where Amazon/TiVo/XBox360 fail.

It’s all about the girls. That is why Apple and Nintendo rule their markets. Its not the fanboys, it’s the fangirls.

Guys like their XBoxes and are happy to cart them out when the boys are over for some Halo, but girls are disgusted and leave the room when the XBox arives. Now pull out a Wii and the game changes. My wife wants to play, it’s fun for her. Same with the iPod. Remember how the PSP was supposed to smash the iPod do to it’s technical superiority’s. That didn’t happen because they didn’t sell it to the ladies. They sold it to fat, smelly hard-core gamers. The girls left the room. (And did you really think the girls would buy a brown and green Zune?)

Enter AppleTV. AppleTV will succeed beautifully because girls like Apple. It’s cute. It looks nice and is easy to use. And when you can rent movies for $2 and it gets some decent advertising (again to the girls not the guys) everyone will want one. Gen 1 Apple TV was just a beta test. 2008 Will be the year of AppleTV.

dallas is right but is not always about the girls. Apple and Nintendo aim for everyone not catering to certain group of consumer.

Dec 27, 07 - 12:54 pm Comment from: dallas

@GotApple

Nope. I honestly believe it's about the girls. Can you name one mass consumer hit that wasn't marketed to girls at least as much as boys? The iPod was. Remember those dancing ads, yeah they were for the ladies. The Wii is advertised to mothers. The original iMac was for the ladies. Brown and Green Halo 3 Zune, who cares. Easter colored iPod Mini, now thats cool.

The one exception to that might be the iPhone. It's advertising is pretty neutral. Honestly I think if they marketed it showing girls having fun it and with it's tricks it would sell even faster.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:09 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

RE: dallas

I think you're almost right, but I'd say 'non-gamers', not just girls. I've seen boys leave the room, too. Boys who weren't stereotypical 'fat smelly gamerz'. And adults as well. Basically, anyone who isn't 14, chugging WIRED and screaming "PWNED!!!" every 12 seconds.
I've been playing Guitar Hero 2 & 3 with a group of girls non-stop for the last 3 days, and I can't remember ever seeing an ad for it at all, so I can't comment on how effective they are. But the appeal is just as strong as with any group of gamers I've seen.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:13 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

"The original iMac was for the ladies."

That's your own prejudices at work. We had those original iMacs (and the matching G3 towers, or 'smuf condos') all over our company and no one ever associated them with male or female. Not until the toilet-seat iBooks came out - Graphite was 'for boys' and tangerine was 'for girls' - did gender enter into it.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:18 pm Comment from: stormy

$1.99 for a 5 day rental. $9.99 per month gets you 6 downloads.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:35 pm Comment from: Sixvodkas

@ HolyMackerel
Not that I've tried pirate sites or anything... but $3.00 for a download that I can receive in a few hours trumps a free flick taking 20 days to get.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:38 pm Comment from: Ampar

"$9.99 per month gets you 6 downloads."

If it's going to be a subscription service (which makes sense for rentals), then there should be an option for unlimited downloads.

Dec 27, 07 - 01:39 pm Comment from: Sixvodkas

@HolyMackerel

If own the DVD, I don't rip it, I play it.
For me, a $3.00 download trumps a $25.00 DVD any day of the week.

Dec 27, 07 - 02:20 pm Comment from: ChrissyOne

@ Sixvodkas

I mostly play them too... unless I want to watch them on my iPhone, in which case I rip them with Handbrake. I also rip movies that I rent and want to keep but don't want to buy (tee hee!). The only thing stopping me, at the moment, from ripping all my movies is storage space, but as soon as that changes I think I'll probably touch my DVDs about as much as I touch my CDs. Not much.

My big question is whether Apple will carry the same subtitle information as the DVD release -- or at least closed captions. Hearing loss is the #1 disability in the world, and tens of millions of people rely on captions or subtitles to enjoy movies. My biggest disappointment with the iTunes Store is that NONE of the TV shows or movies have captions (even the TV shows that were originally broadcast with captions).

Apple would be smart to be the FIRST company to offer online rentals with all the DVD features (including subtitles).

I pretty much HATE DVD's. They are not exactly as stable as we or at least I was lead to believe. DVD/CD as far as I am concerned can't go the way of the 8 track fast enough...The ONLY shows I watch and the ONLY Movies I watch come from iTunes. This also goes for music and now I am hooked on uTunes and several Podcasts. The radio has also gone he way of the 8 track....cya....

@ Jim -

Stable? You mean you have problems with pre-recorded DVD content crashing? Or that the discs become unplayable after a while?

The only problems with optical media I've had are discs I've burned myself, which DO seem to have a limited lifespan. However, pressed discs (like all those sold commercially) have never been a problem for me, and I have CDs that go back to the dawn of the CD age (I was an early adopter).

@shen,

Very good idea, and very obvious unfortunately the fools at the UPO allowed someone to patent this IDEA a few years ago, and that is why you don't see a kiosk at every music store, Air port and 7 Eleven, now where you can go in pick your music insert credit card and have unlimited choice of songs burn print and package while you wait. This could then have been extended to other devices. The patent holder are not licensing but waiting to sue anyone who user there?? Idea.

@ChrissieOne

"Not until the toilet-seat iBooks came out - Graphite was 'for boys' and tangerine was 'for girls' - did gender enter into it."

Dunno... I'm thinking the "Flower Power" iMac might have had gender in mind.

Remember those? yikes.

http://www.apple.com/pr/photos/imac2001/imac_tokyo.html

"toilet-seat iBooks"...ha ha..got a chuckle from that!

i just want to know how much it costs to buy a movie

hey shen,
Talking about those people who work at blockbuster. I am one of those people who you say must have only 4 brain cells. I just wanted to let you know that just because you work for a company doesn't make you stupid, what makes you stupid is when you get on to a site and comment about the people who work at those places instead of the products. I am a very hard working individual, and try to better myself all the time. I am sorry that I don't have the time to take a good place like a comment room and make it a slander room just like my role model shen did..(thats you).