I Was Waiting For This Announcement!

Just Announced from APPLE

"As expected, Steve Jobs announced the entrance of the Apple iTunes
movie rental store today at Macworld. Anticipation for Apple's movie
rental store has been building for some time, and the media empire was
also able to get all the major studios on board, which is good for Apple
and good for consumers. That includes Touchstone and Miramax, MGM,
Lionsgate, New Line, Fox, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and
Sony, according to Silicon Alley Insider. You'll be able to rent movies
to play on your Mac and PC computers, iPods, iPhones, and of course, the
updated Apple TV.

What's not so good about the new rental service, though, is the delay
time. In true Apple fashion, there are some contingencies to having your
media in the palm of your hand (or on your computer, or on your TV).
Rentals last 24 hours, they must be activated within 30 days of
purchase, and movies won't be available for rental until 30 days after
the movie comes out on DVD. That's a significant lag time to have
content readily available for rental purposes on the most popular
devices in the world.

While such contingencies are often the result of Apple reaching some
semblance of a "middle ground" with all of its media partners for
uniformity purposes, I don't see the point in having such a lag time
when it comes to new movies. Equally important, I'm sure you're all
wondering how much this will run you. HD rentals will go for $4.99, DVD
quality rentals will hit you up for $3.99, and older titles cost a
measly $2.99. Is it all worth it to be able to take your rentals with
you, wherever you may go?

It's thought that Netflix changed up its rental offering in anticipation
of today's announcement, lifting the restrictions on the number of
rentals you could view online. Couple that with Netflix's set top box,
and this rental behemoth has already tackled half of Apple's offerings.
There's also existing cable and satellite pay-per-view options, which
are still the standard for in-home rentals on-demand, and a growing army
of competitors, especially in the set top arena, that are working to
combat Apple's stronghold as well.

I don't get to watch movies very often, so I personally wouldn't notice
(or care) that a rental on Apple iTunes isn't available until 30 days
after the DVD release, but could this put a damper on the new rental
offering, leaving a hole for another company to take advantage of?"