Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has the digital music edge. The stylish iPod, iTunes, airstream, and the ecosphere of accessories for the iPod are locked in and it's Apple's lead to keep or lose. The billions of dollars Microsoft pumps into the Zune may or may not unseat the iPod, but it will be an uphill battle for Microsoft, which faces an Apple that's far stronger than Sony has been lately. But the battle for video has no clear leader. iTunes faced a long battle to get movies up and running and faces competitors all around, from other software deliver methods to networks experimenting with streaming TV shows and advertising from their own websites.
Microsoft recently announced movies and TV shows for the Xbox 360, as Brian White reported here. Big news, because the 360 is more of a living room multimedia hub than Microsoft's rather clumsy PC-based attempts were. This puts Xbox up against Apple's iTV. I have to say, already using my Xbox 360 to play DVDs that it would be hard to justify buying an iTV when the 360 could be effectively deployed for downloadable video needs with a larger hard drive. Particularly when the 360 offers a larger variety of movies to download than iTunes. Microsoft has clearly edged a nice victory out here, and it will give it a nice lead entry into the downloadable video arena.
The only snag: Will consumers put up with only being able to digitally 'rent' movies instead of paying to keep them around as if they actually paid for it? This might give Apple a small edge. But the sooner they can move the better, or they will lose out in this arena.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-08-2006 @ 3:20PM
Curt said...
Well, I for one don't want my console as my DVD playing source for movies - what if I want to play games while someone else watches a movie? Hmmm....
Add in the fact that in most households the games are played by kids on 2nd TV's - not the ideal place for the parents to watch movies.
I do agree that Apple needs to move quickly with launching iTV. Apple has a vision that it has been executing on for 5 years very nicely.
Time will tell.
11-08-2006 @ 5:09PM
tobias buckell said...
You make a really good point! I guess I assumed MSFT could engineer or sell a higher capacity HDD or possibly use the USB ports to allow us larger movies, but if they insist on keeping things locked down and don't head into this direction, this will hamper them substantially...
11-08-2006 @ 6:23PM
Gus said...
Why is everyone buying the hype? SO few details. Renting HD movies? Full length HD over your DSL? Has anyone tried to do this? Words of wisdom, "this is not an impulse buy". MS doesn't have a great track record of delivering the next great thing, or having it work. Lets wait and see.
11-09-2006 @ 8:23AM
Andrew Maddox said...
The real important factor to consider here is space. When it comes to purchasing a full movie, you need lots of hard drive space to put it. The XBox only has a 20GB hard drive and no expandability. The iTV will run wireless off of a computer, so you can just unplug the unit and move it to whatever TV you want pretty easily. Not to mention you can get coutless hard drive upgrades past the terabyte mark if you really feel like downloading every movie ever made.
11-10-2006 @ 5:48AM
Sasha S. said...
This situation presents several choices for consumers:
1. Rentig (watching only on xbox) vs. Owning (and playing on (i)TV, Macs (do not forget you can watch videos from other Mac in the same network) and iPods)
2. HD download vs. SD download - lets not forget that Apple movies can be watched DURING downloading, besides HD 720p downloads are HUGE - well into several GB. I purchased 1 hour 48 mins has a filesize of 1.22GB which is significantly smaller. DO not forget most people in USA have lausy (broadband) connection
3. Codecs - WMV vs. H.264 Even in HD resolution the problem will be how will those HD movies look like. Current WMVs do not spot the best codecs by any stretch of imagination. H.264 wins here hands down unless ofcourse Microsoft tweaks WMV playback performance which as of now remains dooubtfull.
4. Coolness factor / consumer perception. iTunes - iPod - iTV system looks like a well rounded system with a clear purpose of multimedia playback. Normal people will see xbox as a game console that can play downloaded video. That is a psychological hurdle. As yourself - original XBOX can easily play DVD's and how many people have NOT bougt a DVD player because they already have xbox. WIth exception of cash strapped students - not many.
My conclusion - Apple will probably win this one as well. Xbox360 is impressive gaming platform - but multimedia functionality is and stays and add-on and it will be of limited use. Just my 2 (euro)cents
11-12-2006 @ 2:57PM
stingerman said...
the problem is as stated elswhere: You can't watch tv while someone else is plaing video games. Consumer companies just do not get it.