Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

MacRumors · Oct 26, 2012

Apple customers are no longer asking for Blu-ray drives in their Macs these days, according to Apple marketing head Phil Schiller. This is perhaps unsurprising given Apple's trend toward removing optical drives from its notebook and now desktop lines, but may regardless cause some consternation among Blu-ray fans.

A MacRumors post from June 2010 in which Steve Jobs told a reader that it appeared Blu-ray would be beaten by downloadable formats garnered more comments for a news post than any other in our history, and we still hear from tipsters asking when Apple will finally include a Blu-ray player in its Macs.

According to an interview Phil Schiller did with Time's Harry McCracken, native Blu-ray support will likely never come to the Mac.

Schiller pointed out that one major application for optical drives, software distribution, has gone largely digital. As for video, he said that "Blu-ray has come with issues unrelated to the actual quality of the movie that make [it] a complex and not-great technology...So for a whole plethora of reasons, it makes a lot of sense to get rid of optical discs in desktops and notebooks."

His preferred Blu-ray alternative? iTunes, of course, which lets you buy a movie and then watch it on all your Apple devices.

Once upon a time, people assumed that Macs' lack of Blu-ray was a delay, not a permanent decision to fast-forward past it. I told Schiller that I imagined folks don't ask about it much these days. "Correct," he said.

External Blu-ray drives are available currently via USB 2/3 and eventually via Thunderbolt but, given the overwhelming trend towards downloaded media, these are certainly niche products.

Article Link: Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

NightCastle · Oct 26, 2012

I guess streaming is the only way to go on a mac now a days - aside from an external drive.

likemyorbs · Oct 26, 2012

I don't have a bluray player in my house at all. Bluray movies are overpriced and inconvenient. I much prefer netflix streaming. The image quality is sharp enough for me.

Naimfan · Oct 26, 2012

Apparently people aren't asking for optical drives or sufficient storage any longer, either . . .

Allenbf · Oct 26, 2012

He's right, for the most part. Physical media formats are a thing of the past. 8 Track. VHS. CD/DVD. Blu-Ray. Each has their day but more and more things move to the Cloud and/or online.

Personally I prefer it that way. But that's my opinion and preference.

NT1440 · Oct 26, 2012

Haven't used a DVD player in years. Though you can get an external player for less than $100 bucks if you really need it.

Rudy69 · Oct 26, 2012

likemyorbs said:
I don't have a bluray player in my house at all. Bluray movies are overpriced and inconvenient. I much prefer netflix streaming. The image quality is sharp enough for me.

Same here

martygras9 · Oct 26, 2012

I was a huge advocate for Blu-ray about three years ago and I can honestly say I don't remember the last time I bought one.

Interesting side note: I had an employer who disliked Blu-ray because, and I quote, "It tints the picture blue."

MMOTotal · Oct 26, 2012

I use Blu-Ray for watching movies etc but I wouldn't need one in my computer.

linuxophile · Oct 26, 2012

I say BS

I for one need to burn dvds with data (e.g. physical backup of photos). Not often, but on occasion.
I don't think I am significantly away from any average consumer.
As for Blue Ray I can't say (I don't even watch dvds at all, so in that respect I am in the tail of the gaussian.)

And if "you can have it external" then it does misses the point of the sleekness factor.

deannnnn · Oct 26, 2012

I am.

BornAgainMac · Oct 26, 2012

So basically, a Thunderbolt Blu-Ray drive is not going to happen from Apple.

doctorossi · Oct 26, 2012

You're right, Phil- we're not asking for it anymore; we've given up hope. Self-fulfilling prophecy much?

As for me, I'll stop being interested in Blu-ray as soon as there's something better. There isn't yet- certainly not iTunes.

pil0tflame · Oct 26, 2012

I've yet to hear anyone ask for a thinner or lighter iMac either...

I have heard people asking for cooler and quieter iMacs and for iMacs with desktop CPUs & GPUs.

gugy · Oct 26, 2012

I have few discs in blu-ray and when I play it the quality is really amazing. That said the convenience of streaming beats any physical format.

Truth is while I do have the blu-ray player/disc, I use it less and less.

Richdmoore · Oct 26, 2012

I bet like my USB bluray player, they are almost exclusivly used with MakeMKV, DVDFAB, and others to get movies into the computer (and then to the iPad), rather than to watch them.

herbapou · Oct 26, 2012

I have an external USB blue-ray drive since 2007, but I dont used it anymore indeed other than to install windows 7 into paralle desktop.

I converted all my blue-ray and Dvd's into .m4v files back in 2009 and I dont buy any of those anymore. I wonder how the dvd/BR business is nowadays, must be horrible. If I buy something its in itunes, I like the fact you can stream from the cloud for life, no need to manage the media anymore.

What I would love is a way to convert my DVD's and BR into the cloud so its flag like a buy into intunes. I would not care going into an Apple Store and trade in the media. That would be awesome.

Vertigo50 · Oct 26, 2012

I can sort of see getting rid of optical drives in notebooks, but for desktop machines it just seems silly. Users lose a great backup option, and they can't simply pop in a DVD or CD anymore, when the part probably only costs Apple less than $5.

Honestly, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that optical drives are one of the parts most likely to fail, and they are trying to reduce warranty repairs, but it's still annoying.

hexor · Oct 26, 2012

Yeah because everyone has given up on Apple giving us Blu-ray. I would sure have liked the ability to at least attach an external one and play a blu-ray movie on a disc. Instead I have to hook up a PS3 to watch any blu-ray movies.

swagi · Oct 26, 2012

likemyorbs said:
I don't have a bluray player in my house at all. Bluray movies are overpriced and inconvenient. I much prefer netflix streaming. The image quality is sharp enough for me.

Allenbf said:
He's right, for the most part. Physical media formats are a thing of the past. 8 Track. VHS. CD/DVD. Blu-Ray. Each has their day but more and more things move to the Cloud and/or online.

Personally I prefer it that way. But that's my opinion and preference.

NT1440 said:
Haven't used a DVD player in years. Though you can get an external player for less than $100 bucks if you really need it.

Rudy69 said:
Same here

And I guess all of you don't have a decent AVR, let alone a decent speaker system. If you ever heard a Blu-Ray DTS HD Master over a decent home theater (which btw is specced up to 10MBit/s stream for audio) you wouldn't talk this stuff out of your backs.

Do I need a Mac as HTPC? Sure as hell not, because I actually own a lot of Blu-Rays and some of them (those Live Concert Blus) are a real joy to watch over and over again.

Shenaniganz08 · Oct 26, 2012

A big **** you to HDCP technology

I have a blu-ray drive in my desktop but apparently my pristine condition 23" Apple Cinema display is not good enough to play a blu-ray video despite having a 1920x1200 resolution

Thankfully 1080p Video runs flawlessly on it

mr jnvii · Oct 26, 2012

How the heck is Blu-ray expensive? It costs around $25, and you usually get a Blu-ray/DVD combo with that, as well as a digital copy.

I love Blu-ray for any movie with action in it. It looks amazing on a HDTV.

I never buy movies directly from iTunes since I don't have an Apple TV, and if I did I may not always have one and/or something else that's better may come along. I'll always have something that plays DVD's/Blu-rays.

herbapou · Oct 26, 2012

linuxophile said:
I for one need to burn dvds with data (e.g. physical backup of photos). Not often, but on occasion.
I don't think I am significantly away from any average consumer.
As for Blue Ray I can't say (I don't even watch dvds at all, so in that respect I am in the tail of the gaussian.)

And if "you can have it external" then it does misses the point of the sleekness factor.

I now used USB keys or external drives for backup or to share data now. That cant fit youre needs?

Ludatyk · Oct 26, 2012

Agreed

Allenbf said:
He's right, for the most part. Physical media formats are a thing of the past. 8 Track. VHS. CD/DVD. Blu-Ray. Each has their day but more and more things move to the Cloud and/or online.

Personally I prefer it that way. But that's my opinion and preference.

I totally agree with you. Streaming and using the Cloud is the best way to go.. But the only negative about it is.. relying so heavily on those services.. will be a PAIN when issues arise..

RonDMC · Oct 26, 2012

If Apple are never going to include a Blu-Ray drive then they need to offer Movies and TV Shows from iTunes at Blu-Ray bitrate with the HD audio tracks in place and include HD Audio support in the Apple TV etc.

I rip my Blu-Rays to uncompressed MVK's with the HD Audio tracks and stream them using Windows MCE. Until Apple offer full bitrate downloads with HD Audio I won't go near an Apple TV.

Phil Schiller Claims Customers Aren't Asking for Built-In Blu-Ray Anymore

macrumors bot

macrumors member

macrumors 68000

Suspended

macrumors 6502

macrumors G5

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502

macrumors regular

macrumors regular

macrumors 68020

macrumors 604

macrumors member

macrumors member

macrumors 68040

macrumors 68000

macrumors member

macrumors 65816

macrumors 6502

macrumors 6502a

Cancelled

macrumors member

macrumors member

macrumors 603

macrumors member

Our Staff