Paul Thurrott: “And yet, Apple jumped right into movie (and TV) sales, right after music. Though Apple is no doubt now the most popular online service for movies, it’s had a slow start. The problem is, unlike music, most people don’t want to watch most movies more than once. $10 to $15 for a standard definition digital movie is too much money.”
You know, he’s right.
How many times in your life do you listen to your favorite song? How many times in your life do you watch your favorite movie? People buy music. People rent movies. This is not about technology, this is about actual usage.
It’s also about peripheral activity. You very rarely listen to music and don’t do something else. You very rarely follow a movie or a TV show by just reading lips or hearing the dialog. If there was ever a truth to Steve Jobs’ famous statement that “people don’t want to watch video on iPods”, it’s this: watching video is immersive. You’ll have to drop what you’re doing regardless, so who in their right mind would watch it on a small screen rather than a big screen (and all TV screens are bigger than iPods)?
It turns out, no one, if not for a) the novelty factor and b) the convenience of having the stuff right there inside the little thing. Getting anything to the TV involves rigging up cables and apparatuses. People hate that. All full-size iPod docks since the iPod grew a color screen has included video-out, and the people that regularly use that can get together with the Zune owners and squeeze into a cab.
Just like eventually, cell phone music players will stop sucking, people will stop watching video on their iPods. Apple’s launches this January are, among other things, ways to make sure they have their ass covered.
The major exception, for me: at the gym. I watch TV on my iPod at the gym, and basically nowhere else. (Sometimes while traveling as well, when it’s more convenient than my MacBook.)
By http://davidglasser.livejournal.com/ · 2007.04.27 20:19
You are 100%, absolutely right here. I would buy an Apple TV and use iTunes for movies a lot more if:
Thats it!
By cleverdevil · 2007.04.27 20:20
I sometimes watch TV shows or video podcasts while I’m waiting for something. In fact, I did this recently while waiting for my car to get an oil change.
By Scott Stevenson · 2007.04.28 07:40
Right, and I consider that part of “b)”. You didn’t have the option to watch it on a full-screen TV.
By Jesper · 2007.04.28 07:44