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Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and TiVo have joined forces in the war to take the top spot in the realm of video content provision. Unfortunately, the team has opted to take a route which cuts personal computers out of the video-viewing loop. That's a sad miscalculation if you ask me.It is reported that the Amazon-TiVo team will be directly selling movies, episodes of television shows and other video content for a price range of $2 to $4 for download directly to TiVo units with the "Amazon Unbox on TiVo" upgrade and high speed internet connections. This is a service which broke ground in February of this year and which at that time required users to choose their entertainment selections using a personal computer. It is my interpretation that the current move by this entertainment alliance, in making their venture "TiVo specific," is a misguided attempt to herd would-be video subscribers into the TiVo format and away from the worldwide video content web.
Bad move, limited scope, consumer inflexibility and restricted horizons are some of the verbiage that enter my thinking when considering this attempted move. As of right now, the Amazon-TiVo team indicates the availability of about 10,000 video selections for their service offering. Umm, excuse me for being so crass but it sounds to me like they're "spitting" into the wind.
Just take as a token indicator the fact that for someone to use this questionable service, they need to have a high speed internet connection. So, if you're going to go with a high speed internet connection to grab some video content why in the world would anyone restrict themselves to a selection of 10,000 viewing opportunities and bypass their personal computer in the process?
I myself wouldn't touch this scenario with a 10-foot fiber optic cable. That is, if I had one.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-12-2007 @ 1:53AM
tetu81 said...
Eh? I don't think you understand the product...
When Unbox launched, you could browse the Amazon selection on your PC and then download it to your PC or your TiVo. The only thing that has changed this week is that I can now use my TiVo to browse the Amazon library and make my purchase. If I wanted to use my Windows machine to browse and then rent/download/watch the content, I still could.
It is a pretty slick experience, I suggest you try it. It is far from perfect (especially having to download the entire file before you can watch it) but it is at least innovation. And, btw, 10,000 titles is a heck of a lot more than any cable company's on demand service.
Finally, you seem to be comparing the Unbox content to YouTube et al with "the worldwide video content web". It isn't the same content or experience at all.
Bad blogger. Bad.
7-12-2007 @ 1:54AM
Bob said...
I just want to reiterate the last sentiments of the last comment. It is clear from this blog entry that you have no clue what the Tivo/Amazon deal is about.
This deal is nothing about taking PC's "out of the loop" and everything about bringing internet content into the living room without being restrained by a PC. This is tremendous progress and sure as heck beats anything that iTV, Netflix or VOD can offer.
The deal has nothing to do with restriction people from choice and Tivo is not trying to "herd" anyone away from any content on the world wide web.
They are merely trying to bring movies off of a 12 inch laptop, out of the home office and into the living room.
Please remove the 10 foot fiber optic cable from your ears.