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

[azpc]

Although I continue to migrate my family of seven from Dell/Windows to Mac, I remain frustrated by Apple on this point. One large reason I originally moved to Mac was to be able to take our home video content and put it onto a DVD so that it could be shared with family. Not everyone on the planet (especially some older grandparents) are ever going to into cloud computing. It is a real shame that Apple ignores the portion of the market that must continue to use optical media for the foreseeable future.

And before you say "aftermarket," the whole point of the Mac is integration right? Everything working together in harmony is the whole sales pitch.

I have been moving to 100% Apple, but I see a day when this may reverse.

I am already seeing clients who have iPhones and iPads beginning to switch away from the Mac because of Apple abandoning optical media.

Optical media is used heavily in education, medicine, law and churches.

I have a lot of clients who will not post family movies of their kids on Facebook or YouTube. However, they still want to share their HD movies with family.

iMovie converted many of my Windows clients into Mac users. They loved having a "turn key integrated movie making solution." Now that this is gone, several have gone back to Windows 7 because they want to create HD DVD's.

More are talking about going back to Windows for the same reason.

Apple will continue to do fine in the near term but the trend is clearly changing. (1% year over year sales growth).

 

[RMferrer]

STOP thinking that Apple is supposed to be the end-all for ALL software and hardware solutions.

I'm guessing your new to this site, or you would have known thats how 90% of the community feels...annoying I know.

 

[baryon]

Yeah.. except VHS is outdated technology with awful quality. Blu-Ray however destroys Apple's crap iTunes "HD" quality. If you convince yourself that just because it is physical it is inferior.. then keep watching your inferior version of content. But hey.. Apple tells you its new and better so it must be right.

... except it isn't and they're only ripping you off by charging you MORE money for inferior quality.

I'm joking, but the thing is although Blu-Ray is indeed better quality than anything else we can get, for some reason not that many people seem to care. People either download stuff of watch them on DVDs. And if you think about how much space a CD drive takes up compared to an HDD/SSD, and an HDD/SSD is a lot more important, considering that not that many people will use it, then it's quite a "waste" of space, especially in a laptop… of course, in an iMac, it shouldn't really matter, but hey, this is Apple.

I'd think of a Blu-Ray drive as "pro" or "enthusiast" hardware, just like an external RAID or a graphics tablet… Those who need it, need it, but Apple isn't going to build it into their compact desktop system. Blu-Ray doesn't seem like it's becoming a mass-consumer product like CDs and DVDs were.

 

[0098386]

Agreed. I used to have a huge film & tv library. Then one day I realized I had seen all those movies enough times, and here I was always blowing max $ on max HDDs just to keep storing them. For what? It's absurd.

So you rent, and it's absurd that everyone else doesn't?

 

[MacDav]

Any serious movie fan knows you can not get nearly as many extra features on iTunes. Blu-ray is still a superior tech. Check out this article: http://www.waystowatch.com/blu-ray-disc-are-here-to-stay-for-awhile/

I don't think anybody is arguing with you about this. Most people just don't care as much as you do about it. This is a simple fact. So yes, you are right but, so what? Downloads from Netflix, Amazon. iTunes etc., are just fine for most people. You are in the minority now and the trend with continue this way.

 

[hamkor04]

Who the he** asked a slim imacs "thik" ones had real hardware issues don't know how they will perform(new ones), ok newer mind, this "explanations" Apple big guys gettin really sh**y

 

[jontech]

I produce Video, and not once has a customer wanted Blu Ray, have never had a reason to use it

DVD yes, but never blu ray, its always in digital format, so they can play on their computers

 

[Appleisntpefect]

Greed

Apple wants everyone to use iTunes and make more money for themselves.
That is their only interest. Apple used to be about options, now they are the ones eliminating them.

Everything Apple does is to make more money, NOT make the best products that serve their customer's needs.

Eliminating disc drives is stupid, cheap, and transparently selfish.

 

[MacSince1990]

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.

Ding ding ding!

 

[iGrip]

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

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

Apple is right. They don't make any money when people buy BluRay discs, but they can make money when people get their content from iTunes.

BluRay is a big bag of hurt. People are better off getting everything from Apple - it is one-stop shopping. That way, Apple can provide the very best User Experience, and customers can get the best quality instantly. Win/Win.

 

[7709876]

Sarcasm noted. Now show me a major brand computer that has ever built in printer.

----------

BluRay is a big bag of hurt. People are better off getting everything from Apple - it is one-stop shopping. That way, Apple can provide the very best User Experience, and customers can get the best quality instantly. Win/Win.

1. How exactly is Blu-Ray a "big bag of hurt"?
2. Apple don't delivery the best quality instantly - they deliver "good enough"

Sounds like Lose/Lose to me.

 

[WilliamLondon]

Minor percentage i do not think so, if its there and you do not want to use then don't but to not include any optical drive and no Blue Ray is just bloody minded to make for example the iMac edges thiner, personally i think it sucks.
Not all great things are measured in $

A minor enough percentage they don't have to worry about major revenue losses - that's what I said, don't turn it into a "we're not a minor percentage" argument, that's completely different.

 

[Fandongo]

Why would you need the bandwidth of a Thunderbolt port for a drive that links just fine on USB 2.0?

One port to rule them all.
Get it? They very well could make devices with only one port.
Would you like that one port to be USB 2.0?

It's not about increased speed/reduced latency, it's about daisy chaining.
Fly you fool.

 

[ArcaneDevice]

Apple doesn't ignore anyone

Except professionals who work with Macs.

 

[7709876]

Mac Forum encompasses a tiny percentage of the real consumer population. IE, we are nerdlers who analyze the quality differences between BD and DVD. The mass population does not. And the prices are still too high, particularly for newly released popular movies. Case in point, Dark Knight Rises. Amazon DVD, $15, BD, $25. Too much, and not worth the extra $10 to many consumers to go out and buy when it is released. The $19 on iTunes is still too much as well.

Hmm...I bought The Dark Knight and Batman Begins together on Blu-Ray for £10 - about $15. $7.50 per movie

I never buy a movie on Blu-Ray at full RRP. With iTunes there is ONLY full RRP.

 

[palmharbor]

Keyboards going too?

No more DVD drives, No Blue Ray drives...hey lets get rid of the keyboard apple! we can just dictate everything...Might as get rid of iTunes too.
I don't listen to that Lo-Fi music anymore, especially out of cheap, chinese
desktop speakers....are these guys nuts or what???? Actually Arrogant.

 

[currocj]

mind numbing

1 - Blu rays are awesome. I can take them with me, load time 20s. Ummm, how long do you have to wait for your compressed-to-the-max iTunes movie download?
2 - Blu rays are MUCH cheaper than iTunes movie purchases. Rentals, ever Redbox? a Bluray on redbox is like $1.50, iTunes, 5 bucks?
3 - Blu ray are an archival format. Granted if I rip to MKV, I'm in the 1%er category, but its a nice option if I decide to stream or digitize my collection for easy access. But it's MY CHOICE. Not so with DRMd to the max iTunes movie purchases.
4 - Quality. Blurays look AMAZING projected on my wall. Streamed movies, not as much
5 - Blurays are the defacto standard outside of the Apple's ecosystem.
6 - Apple wants movies to be like music. Sorry Apple, until we have 100mbit internet connections and a couple of terabytes max monthly caps, we're not there. Sorry Phil, you are so wrong here. A movie is 50GB a song 5MB. That's 1000x difference. Until Phil understands that, he's got his head up his you know what. My U-Verse has a 250GB cap per monthly, that translates to 5 Blurays downloaded. Or a bunch of compressed movies I want no part of.

Side note: This 5mm thick at the edge stuff for the iMAC is driving me nuts. Its just the freakin edge and its a pointless spec. They could have made it a knife's point and less than 0.1 mm. So freakin what. How's that middle thickness Phil? Yeah, I'm talking to you fatso.

 

[Colpeas]

I don't get it. These days, most people either use the ODD very rarely or not at all. If you belong to a group of users who need/like to have a computer with ability to read/burn discs, external DVD SuperDrive is how much? $79? Gimme a break.

Quit your moaning and just get an external BR drive if you need it so bad...

 

[doelcm82]

Apple wants everyone to use iTunes and make more money for themselves.
That is their only interest. Apple used to be about options, now they are the ones eliminating them.

Everything Apple does is to make more money, NOT make the best products that serve their customer's needs.

Eliminating disc drives is stupid, cheap, and transparently selfish.

What are you talking about? When was this golden delicious age when Apple gave you a choice of peeled or unpeeled when they brought your grapes on a silver platter?

Apple never provided Blu-Ray, so I assume that you are talking about Apple making the optical drive optional. Now we have a choice whether to have an optical drive.

 

[ITGuy]

The painfully transparent bullcrap Tim Cook and Phil Schiller have been spewing the past few days makes me miss the pro Steve Jobs. Tim and Phil are amateurs compared to SJ. I hope they don't end up screwing things up.

-ITGuy

 

[jontech]

1 - Blu rays are awesome. I can take them with me, load time 20s. Ummm, how long do you have to wait for your compressed-to-the-max iTunes movie download?
2 - Blu rays are MUCH cheaper than iTunes movie purchases. Rentals, ever Redbox? a Bluray on redbox is like $1.50, iTunes, 5 bucks?
3 - Blu ray are an archival format. Granted if I rip to MKV, I'm in the 1%er category, but its a nice option if I decide to stream or digitize my collection for easy access. But it's MY CHOICE. Not so with DRMd to the max iTunes movie purchases.
4 - Quality. Blurays look AMAZING projected on my wall. Streamed movies, not as much
5 - Blurays are the defacto standard outside of the Apple's ecosystem.
6 - Apple wants movies to be like music. Sorry Apple, until we have 100mbit internet connections and a couple of terabytes max monthly caps, we're not there. Sorry Phil, you are so wrong here. A movie is 50GB a song 5MB. That's 1000x difference. Until Phil understands that, he's got his head up his you know what. My U-Verse has a 250GB cap per monthly, that translates to 5 Blurays downloaded. Or a bunch of compressed movies I want no part of.

Side note: This 5mm thick at the edge stuff for the iMAC is driving me nuts. Its just the freakin edge and its a pointless spec. They could have made it a knife's point and less than 0.1 mm. So freakin what. How's that middle thickness Phil? Yeah, I'm talking to you fatso.

Takes 10 secs to start a 1080p video on the cloud

And I can watch it on 12 devices in my house. Blu Ray- 1

I would need blu ray on every device in my house to enjoy it. It is a great format tied to legacy hardware and optical

No thanks

 

[bflowers]

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.

Exactly!

Hey Phil, I have never, and will never buy or rent a movie or TV show off iTunes. Music is one thing, but until you can start putting reasonably priced 10+ terabyte drives in the Mac, I'll stick with DVDs and a home Blu-ray player.

Oh, and since I'm "living in the past" I went ahead and got a second hand Superdrive for my upcoming iMac, so you don't get any additional revenue from that. Call me a ticked off share holder!

 

[doelcm82]

No more DVD drives, No Blue Ray drives...hey lets get rid of the keyboard apple! we can just dictate everything...Might as get rid of iTunes too.
I don't listen to that Lo-Fi music anymore, especially out of cheap, chinese
desktop speakers....are these guys nuts or what???? Actually Arrogant.

Hey, let's put a cassette tape drive and a punch card reader into the iMac as standard equipment!

Exaggeration is fun!

 

[chatin]

Blu-ray quality close in Apple TV.

Obviously iTunes can't match the quality of a 30GB MKV file but Apple TV is getting close. I don't do much with iTunes movies since I got a Samsung 3D Blu-ray player but when it breaks I'll be back checking Apple quality!

 

[gkarris]

The industry HATES disc media because they don't make as much money compared to a pay-per-play download copy. Not to mention you can't resell or trade-in downloads.

That's where it is heading. Getting rid of physical media proves this. Next you'll see gone is the "Purchase" button, only "Rental" will remain...