Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Target Joins Walmart with iTunes Concerns

Online delivery is lower price than the physical artifact because it COSTS LESS. Interestingly the net $ to the publisher is HIGHER with online despite the fact target and Wal-Mart sell at loss leader prices.

These facts means future CD/DVD artifact sales will be slight premium propositions and will of course remain valid for a long time.

BUT online sales should not only take a big market share, but ADD customers from people which are convenience oriented or physically away from a big box retailer.

Besides it is inevitable.

Rocketman
 
Deja Vu???

Am I the only one that feels like we've heard this song and dance before??
Isn't it the same stuff we heard from the record companies and music stores when people started downloading music? You can't stop a technological shift just because you want to keep the same profits. Let Wally-World and Target threaten all they want. It's not going to stop anything.
 
ChrisA said:
If you can watch an HD movie over your satilite or cable system then somehow the cable or stilite company found a way to electronically distribute the HD content to you. That 25GB of data found a way to get into your house. Not only did it get into the huse but it did it in real time
Click to expand...

Exactly - I watch HD content and HD on-demand nearly every day in my house. if my crappy cable provider can deliver this nearly any mega-corp can.
 
calculus said:
It's funny how the capitalists are all for a free market...until it starts working against them.
Click to expand...
DING DING DING we have a winner.

Yeah, downloads 'might' be less expensive to sell, because you have no B&M store, no packaging, no shipping, etc etc. But downloads have their costs too: servers (lots of them), bandwidth (lots of it), etc etc. Totally different delivery mechanisms, but doesn't automatically mean that one is cheaper than the other to 'deliver'.

Target and Wal-Mart and other big box stores occasionally fight small communities for the free market 'right' to open a store. But they bitch and moan when someone new sells a similar product in a new and innovative way.

Should work both ways, guys - an equal market is an equal market. Unless you want competitors to be less 'equal' than you. (not very eloquent, but you get the drift).

There is a brand new Target open just a couple miles from me... that I haven't been tempted yet to step foot into. Target's stance on this issue seals the deal... I won't be venturing into that shiny brand new store.
 
calculus said:
It's funny how the capitalists are all for a free market...until it starts working against them.
Click to expand...
Before I comment on the story - this is the free market in play. This appears to be a business dispute, not governmental involvement. The free market requires communication between businesses to maximize profits.

As for Target - this doesn't surprise me. No matter what people say about Wal-Mart, the WM return and service policy is golden. With Target, we got nothing but crap over our attempt to return a $17 sandwich maker that we got as a wedding present, but didn't need. WM doesn't carry it, otherwise we would have returned it there. Instead, T has determined that I must return it to them for an e-certificate (where they will deduct the cost of shipping - $7, I believe) that I can use to buy any item from their on-line store (plus shipping - about $7), netting me a gift of $3.

Worst. Service. Ever.
 
evilgEEk said:
Once I have a decent method of getting my movies from my computer to my TV (i.e. iTV), and iTunes has more selection, I plan on never buying another DVD again. I'm in the minority here I'm sure, but for how long?
Click to expand...

Not too long. Movie downloading will be just like music downloading in the next 5 years. This is just the beginning. I understand the big company's complaints.
-Chuck
 
I don't think they have anything to fear for quite a while. iTunes movies downloads are the digital equivalent to UMD. It's cool for Apple to be able to sell a movie for your iPod, but I don't see the practical use yet. You can't watch it on your T.V. (without spending $300 on Apple's upcoming iTV), you can't burn it to DVD, watching it full screen on a Mac or PC is not going to be as crisp as on a T.V., and the extra features aren't there. Quite frankly really who wants to hold an iPod for 2-3 hours to watch a movie anyway? Apple is going to have to offer something more useful for this to really catch on.
 
sartinsauce said:
I agree, except for one little thing===> HD Content distribution. No real solution for that one yet. You can't very easily d/l a 25GB HD movie. Even compressed, it's a massive freakin' file. I don't think there's a comsumer level internet connection that could support such content offerings.
Click to expand...

Faster internet connections will come, I have 24 Mbit/s, not unusual here in Sweden. Of course Target is looking at this as a threat in the future, not right now.
 
ChrisA said:
Just what can Target say? "If you allow Apple do do something that might cut into out DVD sales we will intentionally sell fewer DVD" Kind of like holding a gun to your head threatening to shoot.
Click to expand...

All we need now is the Target chairman slowly driving around Cupertino in a white Bronco with 200 police cars tailing him.
 
Maybe it's just me, (and maybe this has been said before) but when I first got my "video capable" iPod, I was downloading music videos left and right. Then as soon as TV shows became available I got hooked on "Lost", "Battlestar Galactica" and more...but I quickly found out that the quality was not that great...

I still ended up buying the DVD's of the shows that I really liked, and for those movies that I want on my iPod (for travel purposes) I simply convert them to iPod format, the quality is far better than anything you can download.

Downloading may be convenient, but I will still run to the store for a hardcopy.

And I agree with some earlier comments, once the HD/Blu-Ray war is over and the dust settles, I will begin rebuilding my video library with the winning format, because I can't imagine (yet) trying to download those files.
 
c2edgerton said:
Maybe it's just me, (and maybe this has been said before) but when I first got my "video capable" iPod, I was downloading music videos left and right. Then as soon as TV shows became available I got hooked on "Lost", "Battlestar Galactica" and more...but I quickly found out that the quality was not that great...

I still ended up buying the DVD's of the shows that I really liked, and for those movies that I want on my iPod (for travel purposes) I simply convert them to iPod format, the quality is far better than anything you can download.

Downloading may be convenient, but I will still run to the store for a hardcopy.

And I agree with some earlier comments, once the HD/Blu-Ray war is over and the dust settles, I will begin rebuilding my video library with the winning format, because I can't imagine (yet) trying to download those files.
Click to expand...

You're far from alone.
 
Studio heads are no dummies, they want to make money too and they know that the future of media is through the computers. This is just all PR crap to keep the Wall-mart and Target happy for now.
Wall-mart and Target will either live with it, or loose huge profits they can still make if they do what they say they'll do and dump all dvd's.

Don't play chicken with a tank if you are driving a motorcycle, not a very good outcome.
 
I bought a season of a TV show on iTunes for $25 or so. I saw the same season at Walmart for $45 or so. I'm just sayin'.
 
ch-ch-ch-changes

It's a shame, poor Walmart and Target have to deal with shifts to the economy and distribution, much like the tens of thousands of US workers who have lost jobs due to overseas redistribution, etc., then end up working at their stores for a 1/4 of what they used to make. Digital distribution is a matter of fact they'll just need to adapt to. Play them an iTunes file of a violin. The good news is they still have toilet paper, which I don't see moving to an on-demand system anytime soon.
 
ChrisA said:
Just what can Target say? "If you allow Apple do do something that might cut into out DVD sales we will intentionally sell fewer DVD" Kind of like holding a gun to your head threatening to shoot.
Click to expand...

Good analogy, except it's also like the guy holding the gun to his own head is worth millions of dollars to the person he's making the threat to (the threat to shoot himself). So the person he's making the threat to has to ask, is this guy rational, or no? If not, maybe it would be best to placate him. However, if you think he's going to act in his own self interest, call his bluff.

I doubt Target would go through with any kind of threat, since it only makes sense to retaliate if you think it will affect future behavior (hurting yourself once may be worth it if it's going to make your future threats more believable). Ahh, I love game theory. But what future behavior is Target going to care about affecting? Do they foresee several similar battles with the movie studios that might turn their way if they carried out this threat?
 
What is the difference in price on the movies sold on iTunes compared buying the DVD itself?

If it is like 5-10% (1-2 bucks) I dont see why they are complaining but if the the defferences is $5+ I can understand why target is complaining and the threat is a good threat. It is not fair to have that large of a difference in cost.

I might like to add that places that sell the DVD are only making 2-3 bucks on the DVD they sell.
 
And I thought that Target was better than Walmart. That's a sign that these companies have too much power. They want to protect their monopolistic power over DVD sales. Its ludicrous that Target and Walmart should be able to coerce the movie studios and Apple in such a way.
 
Wow. Can't everyone leave Apple alone. ;)

Currently, online movie downloads have no what near the popularity as going out and buying a real DVD has. Greedy Target and Wal-mart. Don't the movie studios see that Target and Wal-mart and other retail stores will still sell DVDs, or they will take a loss?
 
ChrisA said:
If you can watch an HD movie over your satilite or cable system then somehow the cable or stilite company found a way to electronically distribute the HD content to you. That 25GB of data found a way to get into your house. Not only did it get into the huse but it did it in real time
Click to expand...

This is quite different from on-demand hd download. Cable and satellite bandwidth is much greater than traditional internet and it's multicast.

However, for a 25GB movie you only need about a 4 MBPS to stream it (that is, start watching as soon as you start downloading). Most 5-6 MBPS dsl packages are available now for $35/mo, so it doesn't seem that far off.

I think Wal-mart wanted cheaper dvd prices to be more competitive with Target and now Target is trying to get the same treatment. The winning solution is that the studios will probably allow Wal-mart and Target to sell downloadable movies, too, and everyone will be happy except for Wal-mart who will still want cheaper dvd prices.

Truth is, the downloads are less than dvd quality, don't have extras, you need broadband internet and a fast computer or an iPod, and you can't wrap them up and give them as gifts. DVD's will continue to sell well even at a higher price (especially at Wal-mart and Target).
 
DVD's are obviously pretty profitable or they wouldnt bother selling them, so what they are saying is if the movie companies let Apple sell movies they are gonna cut off their noses to spite their face and pull a really profitable sales line? I dont think so - f**king idiots.
 
I registered just so I could respond to this thing..

I'm getting really sick of companies that complain whenever they're met with competition. They love capitalism until it's working against them. Target and Wal*Mart are acting like little children who don't get their way.

Under the Sherman Act, what Target and Wal*Mart are doing falls under the category of antitrust. Attempting to manipulate the market through the use of contracts and threats aimed towards hurting competitors is defined as antitrust. If Target and Wal*Mart go along with this, a class-action lawsuit can be filed against them for forcing us to pay their prices for DVDs without a lower-priced alternative.

Target and Wal*Mart could easily compete with Apple's movie store, even without lowering prices.

Grow up Target. This isn't a communist nation, we have a little something called Capitalism that's basically social darwinism: Compete or shut up.

Simple solution for Wal*Mart: You know that little online music store you have? Why not add movies to it? You have enough money!
 
i dont know why walmart and target are making a fuss about the online movie store. they're like "it's going to cut into our sales!! waaaahhhhhh!!" they need to shut up. it's like they don't understand competitive advantage.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back