Apple hundreds short of 1,000 movie promise
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 1st 2008 8:54PM
posted Mar 1st 2008 8:54PM
[Thanks, Jimi]
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Wow, you mean they are a few days or weeks behind? My god, that news is so important!
My whole world crumbles in front of me now, I have no idea what to do.
calm down...
Fanboi FTL. Stop you're whining.
If they didn't somebody would be posting a link to the news on another site internet shouting 'OMG ur apple fanboys' or something to that effect.
if a news article had to be interesting to everyone before it was posted, we'd have no news articles at all.
In other words, stfu. Just because you dont care doesnt mean someone else isnt interested.
not surprised...
Look at the picture closely.
"$3.99: Rent"
"$4.99: Rent"
So, what's the difference?
Look closer... Rent HD...
Its doesn't say HD, its just a way to get stats on how smart their customers are.
Tiptup300, yes it does say "HD" right next to the word "rent".
You fail.
why do you want an AppleTV device anyways?
doesn't your Apple computer hook up to your TV already?
We just picked up an AppleTV, the wife and kids are watching a movie now. I want to get Safari on it, and try some other hacks, but so far it's not bad. And we did cancel our Block Buster membership today.
As in your store membership? The one that you dont have to pay anything for (if its the standard membership).
Why the hell would you cancel something that is free itself, does absolutely nothing to you except just exist there in case theres the chance you want to watch a movie that Blockbuster has and you cant get elsewhere and of course occasionally sends you coupons for 2 rentals for the price of one, except just to make the point that Apple TV has replaced your need for Blockbuster.
This statement seems right out of an Apple script for marketing.
Calm down, Ruben, you fucking douche. Maybe he's talking about a blockbuster mailer subscription similar to netlfix.
It's one thing to be an apple fanboy who won't listen to reason, another to bash someone because they sound like they could like an apple product.
You're an asshole.
Ruben obviously has been living under a rock for the past three years. Blockbuster has had an online rental service that has been cheaper and offered better value (because they allow you free in-store coupons and allow you to trade in your online movies for in-store movies as well).
So he just cancelled a $18–20 a month service since he bought his Apple TV. That's his point Ruben. Read, investigate, think, then type you cornhole.
No, not under a rock; in Canada.
If he was talking about the subscription service, then i do apologize.
And your telling me to be calm? From reading your comment, it seems like theres now holes in your walls from the anger my comment caused you.
riiight
"No, not under a rock; in Canada."
same thing?
omglies.
Those citrus hating bastards!
Citrus?
It seems Apple is having problems with release times lately. They need to either work harder to get things done, or set better time frames for releasing the product(s).
for one, i highly doubt they are not working at 110% over in cupertino.
The problem becomes, you set your deadline early as possible and miss it: people become upset. You set your deadline long: people are upset about the wait.
quite the pickle
This one isn't Apple's fault - the studios are responsible for encoding and delivering the content. If it is not there, it is because the movie studios don't have their shit together. On a side not - delays in things like the iPhone SDK are fine by me as long as they get it right before delivery.
Yeah, yeah Joe, nothing is ever Apple's fault. Their first phone product was a flop, that was Motorola's fault. iPhone sales are dissapointing, that is AT&T's fault. Their iTunes store is locked to the iPod, that is the big, bad label's fault. Now they can't get enough movies, it is the Studio's fault.
In fact, I happen to know for a fact that you are completely wrong. The studios absolutely do not handle encoding their movies for distribution on the iTunes movie store. Hell, studios don't even handle encoding their Quicktime trailers on apple.com! Do you really think Apple would trust any other company to determine the quality of the video playing on an Apple service, for an Apple device? The movie encoding is handled just like it is for digital cable, and just like it is for Xbox Live. The studio provides a master, and the service encodes it to their internal specs, as they see fit. The problem here isn't some bogus "Apple wants to have the movies, but the stupid studios can't figure out how to encode them." It is the same problem the iTunes movie store has had from day one, which is that Apple wants such a large cut, and has such low market penetration in the video market, that the studios don't really have any great incentive to jump on the iTunes movie store bandwagon. The studios are making more money of cable licensing deals, DVD sales, and even Xbox Live rentals, so they aren't killing themselves to license content to Apple, just because Steve Jobs tells them to. If Apple TV rentals cannibalize DVD sales, or On Demand rentals, the studios loose money, because Apple takes a larger cut than either of those other two distribution channels do.
The fact that this stat was actually calculated tells me that people have to much time on their hands.
Yeah. Like us Engadgeteers read this blog a lot means we got a lot of spare time in our hands too. :)
That or Apple is often so economical with the truth that people frequently check their claims. It's hardly offtopic or a waste of time either that it happens to be Macworld doing the checking.
Did anybody notice that now you can't actually BUY the movies if you want to.
I was waiting for someone to notice. I'd rather buy the movie myself. I bought the Simpsons Movie and watched it 5 times now. It's still classic.
FYI,
Just tonight I was reading an article in the Economist about movies online, that indicated that the Apple TV's lack of non-rental movies had more to do with the writer's strike and uncertainty about actors striking as well, than a lack of desire on the behalf of the studios.
So, buying movies may be coming to the Apple TV. Maybe.
not sure if this is publicly viewable:
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10723360
that's weird... wonder why they did that?
you can buy them through iTunes though and sync or stream to AppleTV, iPod etc.
But didn't you notice that in the Stevenote, buying was never even mentioned? It was only "Rent" and "Rent in HD".
Cmon apple I'm all for video downloads but 5 bucks for a 24hout download! Get serious, you don't even have the overhead of a storefrom like a vid store. These things should be .49 cents
Poeple touted this as the death of netflix. What a joke! I'm even an Apple fan, cmon. Even my local Movie Gallery (who is expensive for a vid store) is the same price or less, and I keep it for five days.
Then we come to something like netflix and this whole Apple rental thing looks absurd.
they're not after netflix, they're after direct tv & cable companies. Example Michael Clayton cost $3.99 on apple tv the same as DTV & cables PPV channels, but on apple tv your not tied down to a subscription, just watch it when you want and how you want to
Never understood the appeal of Apple iTV, VUDU, or any other digital distribution service.
Why would I want to purchase a $230(iTV)-$400(Vudu) device so that I can rent movies for 24hours (Blockbuster or Netflix is cheaper). Or to download a movie that costs the same as a DVD and be restricted by DRM be tied to the machine I purchased it on. For all the DRM whining about Blu-ray and DVD DRM I'm never restricted on when or what machine I play it on (or who I let burrow my copy of the movie).
Being able to rent what you want, when you want it, makes the price well worth paying. I've honestly never understood the appeal of mail order rental services since you need to decide in advance what it is that you feel like watching. Convenience is always king in consumer electronics as long as the other factors are "good enough" or better.
I agree. At a minimum, they should have made it a 27-hour limit (which will allow you to restart watching at roughly the same time as you did the previous day).
I love when someone says the rentals should be a ridiculous price like .49! It clearly shows that you are a person with no clue.
@Temple: Netflix is great but it takes at least 3 days from the time you send a movie back to when you get it. Sometimes you just want to watch a movie now, and in that respect it costs about the same on Apple TV as it does to go to the video store.
Also, people forget that it does a lot more than allow you to rent movies. I can also watch podcasts, listen to my music, and watch my own tv and movie collection with it. I love my Apple TV. Makes it much easier to not have cable.
"Netflix is great but it takes at least 3 days from the time you send a movie back to when you get it."
Really? you must be far from a distribution center. If i get mine out for the first mail pickup i usually get it the next day.
@ Cashmonee
First of all your wrong. There's a local movie store here that rents gallery titles for .49. Since download content has virtually no overhead why should we pay more.
My beef however is not against Apple TV. I have though about getting one for the sake of podcasts.
As to getting is right now there is something to be said for that, although sometimes you have to wait some time ti be able to watch it as you wait for the download. Not only that Apple'd download selection is pretty small, and they don't get movies on release day.
SO basically your saying you trade every other benefit for being able to sit on your lazy but and get a movie without leaving the couch. Cool enough, but for less time, and more money it's still a joke.
For 5 bucks I should be able to OWN the downloaded movie. Heck in china they don't even pay that much for a whole DVD LOL
We quit renting at Blockbuster years ago, and maybe rent a movie elsewhere once every 4 months. Blockbuster is still a great place to buy used dvds though.
Most of the movies we get now are from the public library for free.
The other thing is we torrent shows our cable doesn't carry, like stuff from the BBC or Showtime.
Since when does "by March" mean "by the first 2 days of March"? Seems to me like they have the entire month to roll out more rentals.
Apples press release stated that they'd have 1000 by the end of February, so he's correct.
Apples press release stated that they'd have 1000 by the end of February, so he's correct.
Oh... My bad. Not that I care about iTunes Movies that much. I still prefer Netflix for my rentals (even if they're not "on demand") and buying DVDs for the movies and shows I absolutely love. Just seems like a much better value.
@electronical: since when? an interesting question. according to the Oxford English Dictionary, sometime around the year 1350 AD: "On or before, not later than; within (a space of time)." sounds like they're late to me-- not that i care. i don't have an apple tv, so i'd just be watching them on my slide viewer anyway.
@m
If "by March" can mean "within March, in March, not later than March," Electronicat is right, and Apple is not late. If you trace the word back to its Greek and Sanskrit origins, it meant "about,around," which is still the basic definition today.
"ruh roh" = uh oh.
"ruh ruh" = uh uh.
I believe you intended the former.
lol i was thinking that too!
After I read "Ruh ruh" I got confused, and exploded.
Man, people are exploding everywhere! ...Gedwillo, is that you?
I came here just to say that.
Thank you.
You stole the words from my underworked mouth.
Maybe he was imitating Scooby Doo. And if so, can I have a prize?
umm... sarcasm?
class action lawsuit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, along with actual physical dvd rentals, Netflix offers unlimited streaming media from a library that has over 6,000 titles. So sorry ... unlimited streaming, more choices ... I think I'll hang with Netflix for quite awhile. I like the convenience of downloadable media, but apple's prices are absurd, to me. I understand other people think its a great deal and rox their world. Have at it.
@Rick, you do know that the Netflix plan including movies in the mail AND unlimited online streaming right?
Genius, my online receive movies in the mail for $15 a month membership. Marketing? Yea, ok.
Hey Apple how about letting people without the Apple TV rent/buy HD movies?
you don't even have to asked them, you could just drive to your local store and buy it without letting them know, lol. Dude its not apple is the movie studios, cause am pretty sure they also wish they can sell them also to make a buck or 2
but you can buy and rent as long as you have iTunes
i'll correct myself.. HD only available on AppleTV
Thank God for the bittorrent store, where every movie, song, and piece of software is available.
dhlt25- No, I've never tried netflix, just BB. The biggest thing for me in getting the ATV is eventually getting movies from my computer, into iTunes then over to the ATV. So I'd have the rentals for the wife and kids, HD will hopefully increase in titles and resolution and then my personal music, photos, web browsing, and downloaded/ripped movies all in one package.
Good thing I bought an HD-DVD player instead of this! Ohh wait...,,. Sad face.
I picked up an Apple TV and canceled my Blockbuster subscription account too. I had been a member for I believe 4-5 (? since start of college so its been more than 3, not sure of exact amount) years, when I first started it was 15 bucks for 3 at a time unlimited permonth, two in store coupons with games, then I my embership was "upgraded" over time as the price increased to decrease the unlimited amount and added and then limited in store free rentals. Who knows. It was nice for renting blu ray's. But since I started grad school I don't have the time to watch movies like I used to...used to watch at least 30 a month, now I'm lucky if I get to watch 2-3/month. I literally had some blockbuster discs sitting around months just because it was a movie I wanted to see but didnt feel like watching if I was i the mood for a movie. I know not the smartest thing ever but what can I say, I had better things to do. Don't get me wrong, blu ray rentals is great, and it was a great offer if you watch a lot of movies. But now I can just sit down and get what I'm in the mood for right at that moment, don't have to predict what I may want to watch if I have time to watch a movie later in the week, or drive to the store either. Can just plop down and start watching an "HD" movie. Yea its not blu ray quality, but when I'm tired at the end of the week as long as it looks and sounds good, thats enough for me, I'm not about to pick apart video quality and pixel peep at the end of a long week staring at computer screens, I just want to be entertained. And it does look much better than DVD in my opinion, and 5.1 sounds good enough, so I have no regrets. Even if I watch 4 movies its cheaper than blockbuster. And heck if I rent ten whatever, its more convenient and better fits my movie renting style, so I don't really care if it costs more (I'm one of those people who cares more about convenience I guess...Yea, I added the P3 package, $5K, to my Benz because I wanted Keyless Go...haha doesn't get much lazier than that I guess!). To each their own though, it won't stop me renting or buying blu rays if I'm out and about either.
The 1000 mark to me is eh, yea I wish there were more HD movies, but they're continually rolling in, over time it will accelerate too, I'm not worried. All this empty promise stuff only serves to drive the stock prices down. Seriously, people are being idiots with the economy right now, the only good anyone is doing anyone with all this empty promises garbage is hurting the whole US economy. Whatever, get over it people, its about bottom lines. Anyways, thats my economy rant, sorry.
AppleTV. To each their own. But I'm happy to say its working better than Blockbuster subscription for me.
Got paragraphs?
@Juaquin
Got sleep?
Sorry buddy too tired to think about tabs, so just hit return. Yea, lazy, remember? Actually just tired. But gotta keep cranking for now, been working 56 hours straight right now, little behind in the sleep department, few minutes on engadget is a nice break for a few minutes after a few hours of work though, helps me refocus. Anyways, yea, tired = fuck tab.
we don't do tabs here on engadget,
but we do hit the spacebar twice to separate paragraphs.
Everyones eyes will thank you.
Ok, I get that since this is Apple, it tries to make news.
But the rest of the industry (non Apple people) have had the option of online Video Rentals for years now. From Cinemanow to even Vongo where you can subscribe to several other sites that have both rental and purchase options.
These sites also support Media Center natively and you can transfer the videos to your non-iPod MP3 players.
Then there is the XBox 360, which does EVERYTHING Apple TV does, costs less, and is also a full gaming system. Where you can download and rent and buy HD and Standard Movies and TV Shows, surpassing the quality of iTunes. The XBox 360 also connects to your PCs and runs Media Center and you can watch everything from live TV and record shows on your PC to even viewing custom sites and even Internet TV via MSN and other groups.
So explain to me again, why people care so much about iTunes, and WHY so many people think Apple is great and the first to do this again?
Do Apple Fans live in basements and not realize that Windows users have had this stuff for years, and easily have been using especially since Media Center started shipping on low cost PCs back 2005, and Vista includes Media Center?
I know for the AppleTV people, this is a great thing, but didn't anyone tell them they chould have bought an XBox 360 for $250 and do everything AppleTV does, plus have more access to live/recorded TV and a full gaming system. And been renting and viewing online videos and content for almost 2 years now?
Had an Xbox 360 for awhile btw. Then I decided I don't really like video games. Actually have to say the xbox was nice, could easily stream all my iTunes music to it and everything. But no hdmi, its big and noisy, and I don't play video games...so I sold it...now I have something that I use for what it was intended and what I need. Simpler I guess. Nothing wrong with renting on the 360 either. I think as a whole Apple users were painfully aware that people could rent on the 360 for a while and were waiting on the edge of their seat for when Apple did. Its perhaps MS that got them so excited in the first place.
I do wish you could rent HD movies thru iTunes right onto ur computer, when I'm on travel itd be nice to rent a higher quality movie on my laptop. Oh well.
Dude its not about watching movies on your pc, its about watching movies on your tv. Where can i get a 360 cheaper than a apple tv that cost $229 with a 40GB HDD and that won't be plague with the RROD???? tell me and i'll buy it. i forgot about wireless N, cause i don't like cables around
Well, part of the problem is that most of these media centers kinda suck, where the Apple TV does not. Also, if you want movies only, the AppleTV is far cheaper than buying an XBox 360. Believe it or not, many people are not gamers. Oh, and you don't have to buy stupid "Microsoft Points" in order to make a transaction with the Apple TV.
Alex: XBox 360 Elite does have HDMI.
Full disclosure: I have an XBox 360 Elite, and have no plans to buy an Apple TV. Nor do I have plans to cancel my Netflix subscription or buy movies from the MS store
Apple TV is getting attention because Apple has the necessary experience with iTunes to be the first company have a real chance of pulling this off at the mainstream level. Its not just about the hardware and the specs. When you buy one of these machines you are buying a promise on the part of the company to build a significant library of movies. Nobody else has really delivered on that promise yet. And even though Apple might pull it off eventually, even a selection of 1000 movies isn't a significant threat to the 90,000 available through Netflix.
@thenetavenger
Ideally, when posting a comment like that you might want to think about doing some research first. An HDMI equipped XBox 360 costs £280 from Amazon while the Apple TV costs £200. Now I know that maths isn't my strongest skill but I'm pretty sure that £200 < £280. So, while the 360 is a reasonable idea if you want to play games and don't mind running the risk that the thing will die, for everyone else the Apple TV is the best solution since the 360 is more expensive, bigger, noisier, and just plain overkill. The first iteration of the Apple TV was rubbish but they've hit the nail on the head this time around. If they could release a version with a DVD player and perhaps even DVR then that would be perfection and I can clear a lot of space.
at the end of the day,
a 360 is still more expensive than an apple tv.
I love my 360 and have no reason to buy an apple tv, but if i didn't have my 360, and wasn't a gamer, the atv would be a more cost effective choice.
Reid: all 360s since about october/nov have HDMI on them, it was added on to the mobo of the most recent revision.
So many comments about price, HDMI, and most of them wrong.
All XBox 360s NOW ship with HDMI, the only difference is the Elite gives you a free cable.
Now that that is out of the way.
Wireless, you can get N adapters for the 380, even though they work fine with G.
Price - Yep, the Apple TV is going to be about $40 cheaper, but then again, what does that functionality cost you?
HD?
Media Center?
Live TV?
XVid/Divx?
As for media center's sucking, since Apple STILL doesn't even have a Media Center technically, Apple TV cannot even be compared. If you want to compare Media Centers, go for Windows Media Center/Vista vs Beyond TV, MythTV, etc.
AppleTV is nothing more than a streaming extender, and is limited in content choices and quality.
With the XBox360 not only do you have the choice on MS's online services, but via a PC you have access to every other online service and store automatically.
I have a $14 a month subscription to Napster, access to 3 million songs for free with the subscription, and they all stream to my 360. Explain to be again how for $14 a month I can have access to almost every song made on AppleTV?
Explain how I can subscribe to Vongo and have access to thousands of Videos for $15 a month subscription on AppleTV?
Oh, and with my 360 I still get access to iTunes, and can throw my iPod on it as well, in addition to every other media player made and stream content via USB.
So to repeat:
XBox 360 - HAS HDMI Now, has for almost a year
XBox 360 - HAS N Wireless available
XBox 360 - Base cost is around $249 compared to $229 Apple TV
XBoX 360 - Has 10x the features and enough horespower to play the latest in Next Gen Video games. (Games a Dual Quad Core Mac Pro can't even play with reasonable framerates do to the horrible Video choices Apple Makes)
XBox 360 - Access to ALL online content and store, including subscription modesls for Music and Video for endless content and choice.
So please give me another 10 posts with erroneous information justifying a horrible product that is very late to the game, consider Microsoft has been doing Media Center and Media Externders for over 6 years now.
March 1st...
1000 movies...
not on TV...
Hmmm...
Only 30 more days to go...
Doh!
Nothing was ever said it had to be March 1st...
"By March"... as in before April 1st (Which is another "Happy Birthday Apple" moment, by the way)!
Cheers...
my 2 p worth...
any consequences for not meeting the number?
Here are my ideas for Apple to greatly increase selling the movie renting thing:
1. Lower the prices at least $2 for each renting session.
2. Or keep the same prices but extend the time to three days at least.
3. Have a monthly renting plan, where someone could pay $60 and they can download unlimited movies and one movie at a time. Video stores do it, and I never heard of any complaints or bad revenue.
4. Give some special promotions such as: Getting a free one song from the soundtrack of the movie that they rented, this way they get a taste and ask for more, and even get hocked emotionally with the movie.
5. With the first movie rent, offer people 5 free songs of their choice to download later at anytime using the same account they signed in with, this way people will fight into using their account in order to get the free music and at least half of the people who don't have AppleTV will go their friends' houses and sign in using their accounts to get the free music, in this case you kind of paid people $5 (or less) for them to give AppleTV a try.
6. Check out Xbox Live, they have very good experience, learn from them some ticks (there are a lot, so I'll not be talking about it here)
7. Basic Offer: After every 10 movie rents, you get to rent one movie for free.
8. Engage people into their favorite movies, include some offers on buying the movie poster in high quality as a hard copy, or maybe a set of wallpapers to use on their PC.
9. If you are putting YouTube on your system, you should ask YouTube to put AppleTV's name on their website, either an advertisement, or maybe a special channel, and the same with Flickr; let AppleTV people feel special.
10. Include cable options in the buying process; many people are going to be shocked that no connectors are available. Don't do the mistake Sony did with their PS3, and many other companies with their products. Trust me, people will read through all requirements and still forget to buy the cables!
More to be added later.
some pretty good ideas,
but i doubt an unlimited plan would work for $60 a month.
netflix includes their unlimited instant viewing plan for just like $3 more than the base cost, and they have over 6000 movies and shows available.
$2 is a little cheap for new releases, but those in grocery store movie stands manage to only charge $1 a day, so it should be feasible. I agree that 24 hours is too short for $4/5.
HEY ENGADGET
HOW about reporting on the fact that apple is pulling a microsoft an lying to its customers with false advertising?
Time capsule they claim have server grade HDD. when in reality is commercial desktar.
I would so love it for you guys to put them on blast. ohhh wait that wont happen matter of fact my post might get deleted.
Problem is, what is server grade? Most servers have disks that are no different from desktop drives.
What is server-grade then? I guess you rarely see FC drives in desktops.. :)
But you're right in that the name of the drive being "Deskstar" is sorta a PR problem. They should have used another mfr that had a less consumer-sounding drive name to avoid this whole problem.
so, ph5ive... let's get this straight... having just read a post accusing apple of not living up to its advertised promises, you're accusing engadget of not having the spine to run a post saying apple doesn't live up to its advertised promises?
good....
Who cares? Hurry up and get film rentals to the UK!
@Aguiluz
Perhaps he's comparing Apples to oranges...
I know, I'm sorry I said it too
...must...remember...to...click...Reply...link... ah, heck.
Well looking at the picture, it looks like 2 of the movies are "Star Trek The Motion Picture", and "Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home", not exactly recent titles...so is this what we can expect, a few headline movies that you've watched within a week, and a bucket load of "dross" that you've already seen 50 times on regular TV?!
Doesn't seem that spectacular to me, I think I'll pass.
This is news about Apple.... how come *this* isn't on digg??? :p
Apple: 770, DRM
Netflix: 90,000 real DVDs
Tough call.
it is a tough call...
if i want to watch something right now, some people come over and their taste isn't my taste... AppleTV does it... Netflix i need to wait or watch 3days or watch on my computer.. imediate gratification counts for something.. watching on demand on your TV counts for something...
You mean your PC/laptop isn't connected to your TV? Are you sure you're on the right web site?
did i forget to mention that the on demand movies are about equivalent to VHS quality and the selection is mostly 10yr old movies and only about 6000 total.. maybe a few hundred that you probably want to watch.
and no i don't want a giant PC keyboard, mouse etc.. in my living room with a huge noisy fan.. a tiny little fanless box with a simple interface that the whole family can use works fine for me... i have one PC it sits in the office and it does everything.. and the person who decides they want to search the net or write letters goes into the office to do that and doesn't disturb eveynone else who wants to watch a show or movie... no need or want of the complication or cost of having a PC attached to my home theater...
So by Amazon's count there are 3,317 movies I can rent from Unbox and download directly to TiVo and 4,765 movies I can buy.
you just gave Amazon a reason to create a set top box.
They have one...it's called TiVo.
I guess there is no point in trying out the ATV yet. I currently have a couple of VUDU boxes and they currently have 5075 titles, with 101 titles in HD.