Disney: 125,000 iTunes Movies Sold In 1 Week

[mkrishnan]

This text from that Unbox review was ace:

You can watch the movie at home or at the office, but the license agreement prohibits you from watching it in "hotel rooms, motel rooms, hospital patient rooms, restaurants, bars, prisons, barracks, drilling rigs" and certain other locations.

Although I do have to say that, based on his areas of concern, at least some of them are also going to apply to Apple. Particularly considering that, while the iTV will probably be really sweet, it doesn't actually exist yet, unlike the XBox / Media Center system.

Actually all of this video hype building up is tempting me to rip all my DVDs into .h264 using Instant Handbrake and to start keeping things I like from my DVR in that format on my iMac in iTunes using iSquint....

 

[echeck]

I just feel like there are many more people like me that will prefer to have physical movie versus a "digital" counterpart. Songs just seem more petty and i feel more comfortable downloading them, but movies... meh.

I remember a lot of people saying that about music when iTMS first came out.

As good as this news is its not likely to appear outside the US for a LONG time... heck we still dont get TV shows!

Honestly I think movies will come to other countries before TV Shows do. Movies are more universal than TV Shows are, each country has their own TV Shows but everyone wants to watch Lord of the Rings.

 

[Passante]

Probably not quite as long as you might think. Less than 3x longer for 720p or 1080i, <6x longer for 1080p.

B

but his download time was 6 hours... so 3X would be, well... a long time.

 

[bokdol]

i wonder how will unbox is doing in comparason. anyone know how will it did first week?

 

[caity13cait]

Didn't Steve say in his keynote how long it would be until Europe got movies? I could have sworn it was October.

 

[kresh]

Looks like Unbox is getting slammed by CNN

After reading the whole article, I get the feeling that Apple will be slammed in this Thursday's follow-up article about iTS.

edit: Dang it I can't spell.

 

[MacBoobsPro]

Didn't Steve say in his keynote how long it would be until Europe got movies? I could have sworn it was October.

I think he just said "we hope to take this international in 2007" meaning tough **** you will have to wait most probably end of 2007.

 

[gugy]

Neither -- My download on my 4MB cable connection (real speed) took about 50 minutes AND the quality was outstanding on my 30" cinema display -- looked the same as DVD to me. No defects, no artifacts. Crisp Color.

I will order again. Way nicer than storing DVD's.

Good to know.
I am still skeptical. I rather by a DVD and use handbrake to have it on my itunes. But I think is great to know that the movie store is there if you want it soon without the hassle of ripping from DVDs into itunes.

 

[ryantheredder]

FWIW, the average size per minute of Apple's 720p trailers are 50MB. So a 120 minute movie would be around 6GB to download or about 2 hours on an 8Mb connection. Almost watchable in real time providing perfect network conditions.

 

[blackstarliner]

Afte reading the whole article, I get the feeling that Apple will be slammed in this Thursday's follow-up article about iTS.

Maybe, but he seems to mention that it was nicer somehow in one paragraph.

Plus, this review finds shortcomings in both systems:

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/technology/15548570.htm

 

[ickies]

good call

jeez, thats about 10x what i would have expected.

a lot of people I have talked to thought that it was "crazy" to expect people to wait 30+mins to download a movie.

couldn't apple develop something into itunes that lets you watch while it is downloading? is this possible?

I'm also really surprised by these numbers but that's a really good idea you mentioned!

If it takes a few minutes to buffer before the movie starts, why not have the option of watching lower-res movie trailers while you wait? If the studios are willing to pay for the advertising, it could even subsidize the purchase a little bit and maybe Apple could knock a buck off the price.

 

[mechamac]

I bought The Ladykillers and got the movie in 40 minutes. I watched it on my iMac (last Intel-model, 17") and the quality was really great. Might be slightly softer than DVD quality, but color, detail, everything is really sharp. Not at all like the TV shows. Chapter skipping is great....no complaints, really. I doubt I'll be buying many movies, but I'll certainly buy again when the selection improves.

My Netflix account stays, though.

 

[CrackedButter]

Hmm mixed feelings about this.

I want them to be successful, but I also want:
- DVD extras
- HD resolution
- burnable to disc
- rental system

I hope success won't lull them into thinking the current restrictions are ok.

Oh well, I can stick with DVDs.

You want HD quality downloads but you can "stick" with DVD's? Do you understand how much information there is for a HD movie? Try one of the new disc formats, but you want to be able to download it? Crazy!

I agree on the rental system however, I wouldn't mind renting but it would have to be cheaper of course.

 

[Casshan]

I'm not touching it until they offer 5.1 sound. I'm sure its just a matter of time, though.

 

[aristobrat]

The only downside to the bumped up resolution is the increased download time. Last year, I was able to download Battlestar Galactica eps in about 20 minutes... the other night I downloaded a higher res episode and it took nearly an hour... granted, my DSL isn't the best in the land and the quality was noticably better, although the previous resolution was still fine (I have my iMac hooked via DVI to a 46" Samsung DLP HDTV... front row lets me select and play the shows from my couch) but the extra time caused my wife to say "well, lets just download it overnight and watch it tomorrow"... not a huge deal or anything, but a slight step backwards from the convenience angle. It's too bad you can't choose the resolution you want to download at.

Maybe they could make iTunes let you start playing your TV show download before it's finished, like they let you do with movies?

 

[aristobrat]

I'm not touching it until they offer 5.1 sound. I'm sure its just a matter of time, though.

I thought they had 5.1 sound already in the movie downloads?

 

[Diatribe]

I'm not touching it until they offer 5.1 sound. I'm sure its just a matter of time, though.

I thought they did?

 

[p0intblank]

WOW! This is excellent news for Apple! First they did it with TV shows and now movies... I'm proud to be an Apple fan.

 

[milo]

Considering that the iTS is like the 5th biggest music vendor, they sure suck at selling movies. 125k is nothing compared to real movie vendors.

Maybe when they get more than 75 movies. Amazon unbox started with like 2000 movies!

Are you serious? This is their first WEEK of doing it, what do you expect? And how many movies did Amazon sell in their first week? I'd bet it was less than Apple. Good selection won't overcome crappy implemenation.

I guess people value convenience over quality. That's great for Apple. That confirms it will be a success.
For me I rather buy DVDs or wait for hi definition downloads, but I guess many people out there are satisfy with lower quality.

From what I've heard, the quality is pretty close to DVD. Have you compared the two? What is your complaint about quality?

On my DSL connection, it took about 7 hours. I let it go overnight.
Not quite the 30 minutes that Steve promised.

He quoted that number on a 5M connection...is that what you have?

Maybe they could make iTunes let you start playing your TV show download before it's finished, like they let you do with movies?

I'd bet they already do, since the download engine in iTunes is redone. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Rocketman]

I'll post.

The primary objection of studios to iTS (iTunes Store) is not rental vs. ownership. It is pissing off its physical channel "partners".

Steve Jobs has a history of pissing off physical channel partners. When the online Apple Store was vastly enlarged and promoted, the value added dealers lost premium CPU and software sales to Apple itself, since they have a price fixing contract. Consumers were no worse off ordering direct with free shipping than going down to a dealer if they did not need advise for the product purchase. In addition many asked questions of local dealers then purchased online thereafter.

This was further an issue when Apple added their own dealer network (stores) which were to a large degree competing with the long-standing dedicated dealer network as well as the mass merchandising dealers, who have been really hit and miss over the years. That has resulted in low mindshare as compared to Apple and indy dealers who people at least KNOW have the stuff if they are inclined toward those channels.

Studios rely on physical store dealers for "impulse sales" which has a different character than online. If you are in the online store software or website, it tries to cross-sell you. But retail impulse sales are targeting people who are not shopping for music at all. They just walk by and see it while shopping for something else. The most powerful example of this is Wal-Mart. They sell CD's as a loss leader to generate store traffic of a key range of demographics. So much so, it is Wal-Mart who is pressuring studios to shun iTS, and to a large degree it is actually working.

Not for long.

Rocketman

 

[thadgarrison]

I think this is a result of people testing out the service. You can't possibly quantify how successful this will be until it's been around long enough for the "newness" to wear off and for real-world usage to begin.

125,000 downloads really isn't that big of a number. Especially considering the mass media coverage of the announcement and the vast number of people using iTunes.

The jury is still way out.

 

[Diatribe]

Besides, I'd be completely happy with 720p as that's basically the most that affordable displays can show these days anyway. Give me that and I'd only buy my movies on the iTS.

 

[thadgarrison]

So much so, it is Wal-Mart who is pressuring studios to shun iTS, and to a large degree it is actually working.

Not for long.

Sadly,
Wal-Mart is God in the retail sector. They have far more power over the success of CDs and DVDs than Apple could dream of. I doubt that is going to change anytime soon, especially not as a result of Apple movie sales.

 

[mazola]

Based on 1st week downloads of 125,000 movies I predict

... a final annual download number of 125,550.

 

[thadgarrison]

You want HD quality downloads but you can "stick" with DVD's? Do you understand how much information there is for a HD movie? Try one of the new disc formats, but you want to be able to download it? Crazy!

It's actually very possible to download HD content if Apple adopts a shared-bandwidth system like BitTorrent. It was rumored that they might do so. I download HD TV shows all the time - and it's fast and they're gorgeous.