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Apple gets half a loaf - May 1, 2008

The most intriguing part of Apple's press release this morning regarding day-and-date availability of movies on iTunes and DVD is what it doesn't say: There's no mention of rental. According to the release, new releases will be "available for purchase" on iTunes on the same day as the DVD for $14.99. Older, library titles will go for $9.99. The one quote in the release from an Apple exec, iTunes VP Eddy Cue, refers to iTunes users "being able to buy their favorites from major and independent studios."

The release goes on to refer to the availability of movie rentals from iTunes, but in context it doesn't appear to be referring to the day-and-date titles. Here at Media Wonk world headquarters on the East Coast it was too early at the time this post was written to raise anyone in LA or Cupertino to confirm the lack of rental availability. But if it turns out the day-and-date movies are only available for purchase on iTunes, at least initially, what would that tell us?

It would tell us the studios are still trying to protect Wal-Mart by precluding a low-price download option that would compete with the initial DVD sales window. The $14.99 price for day-and-date purchases also smells suspiciously like an effort to price-protect the DVDs.

Bottom line: An interesting experiment but not quite the conceptual breakthrough Apple was probably hoping for. That's probably why the only quote in the release is attributed to Eddy Cue (Eddy Cue?) and not to Steve Jobs, who was all over Apple's earlier announcement of iTunes movie rentals.

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