AfterDawn: News

Apple announces iTunes movie rental deals

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has finally confirmed what has been a not well kept secret today at the Macworld event. Jobs announced iTunes movie rentals alongside the announcement that deals had been made with every major studio for distribution.

The company also said that they have so far sold 125 million TV shows and 7 million movies through their iTunes platform but did admit that those numbers were not up to expectations. Jobs confirmed that movie rental partnerships had been made with Touchstone, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Lionsgate, Fox, Warner Bros. Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony.



"We've never offered a rental model in music because we don't think people don't want to rent music. But your favorite movie, most of us watch once, and renting is a great way to do it," Jobs said.

By the end of February there will be 1000 films available for rental and all new releases will be added to the store 30 days after its DVD launch. Users can watch the movies on their PCs, as well as on their iPods and the iPhone.

As is the new standard with online movie rentals, customers will have 30 days to begin watching the film and 24 hours after beginning to finish the film before it expires.

Archived titles will cost $2.99 USD while new releases will start at $3.99 USD. Currently, the service will be US-only but Apple hopes to bring it international later in the year.


Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jan 2008 14:44

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• 12 comments

• SProdigy

  That's an awful price considering I could just rent from Redbox for $1 or even FREE. Even Netflix is an option. We all know there are other ways to get video to your iPod than through the iTunes Store.

  15.1.2008 16:39 #1

• tripplite

  itunes, ilife imovie, irentals whats next , ifood download you favorite food of itunes, i hate apple!!!

  15.1.2008 17:12 #2

• evz

  We've never offered a rental model in music because we don't think people don't want to rent music.
  
  Try reading that really slow outloud

  15.1.2008 19:02 #3

• snowlock

  That's some kinda triple-double price mark-up. Oh wait, this is itunes, that's why.
  This will be a worthless service which will no doubt be extremely popular due to all these companies making it so difficult to find out how to use the truly functional features of their devices/media.

  15.1.2008 20:27 #4

• tom123

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  15.1.2008 22:26 #5

• Moomoo2

  um spam attack...
  
  and yeah, this service is a little too high priced. Maybe if there were like a "rent one, get one free," sort of deal it'd be worth it.
  
  Also, my questions are what is the video quality and how fast are the download rates? Or is it streaming?

  15.1.2008 22:47 #6

• redux79

  tom123-
  Not only is your post painful to read it has nothing to do with apple. I can't believe your trying to advertise in a news article; unless you have permission from a mod I would suggest editing your post.
  
  On the topic of apple does anyone actually watch a movie on their iphone? The same thing goes for psp, it's a cool option but I personally would get a headache or go cross-eyed from staring at a screen that small for a long period of time.
  
  That's a lot of money for renting one movie but I guess that's the price of convenience.

  16.1.2008 00:37 #7

• maxsixer

  steve jobs needs an iSmack in the face, usless apple junk

  16.1.2008 05:15 #8

• tucker001

  I am downloaded Enemy of State now for $2.99 and I think I have a way to bypass the rental expiration

  16.1.2008 15:29 #9

• c.trigger

  its not a very good deal seeing as you still have to pay for the bandwidth
  
  
  must see
  

  <===cool text coming soon===>

  20.1.2008 01:07 #10

• borhan9

  Everyone wants a piece of the pie.

  14.2.2008 22:48 #11

• varnull

  And everybody will lose eh? more greed.. I can go to my local library and rent these same films on dvd for £1.50 for 7 days.. read my lips apple.. 7 days!
  
  Hi borhan.. long live TPB where films are free, and vuse where streamed HD content is also free. The genie is out of the bottle.. they can't cram it back in now..
  
  Will downloading these films take uk subscribers over their monthly download quotas, and could they be seen as pirate copyright content (I assume as part of the drm they will be encrypted) Buyer beware all ways you look at it.
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.... Commercial "pay for" software = made by software developers who want paying... see where I'm going with this?

  14.2.2008 23:17 #12