Apple adds hi-def TV shows to iTunes, launches new iPods but passes on Blu-ray

[The News Bot]

Apple is now offering high-definition TV downloads via iTunes for the first time. American shoppers can use iTunes 8 to download hi-def shows for $2.99 an episode, including programmes from NBC. The American broadcaster pulled its catalogue from iTunes a year ago in a price-related spat.

The announcement was made at the media company’s ‘Let’s Rock’ press event in San Francisco yesterday.  read more »

[P-P-S-S]

Well as far as support for BR is concerned Apple can be as akward as they want coz it doesnt matter much anyway sincethey only have a 5% share of the computer market.

[rude-dog]

Originally Posted by P-P-S-S

Well as far as support for BR is concerned Apple can be as akward as they want coz it doesnt matter much anyway sincethey only have a 5% share of the computer market.

i couldn't disagree more. apple are huge as is BD

apple have been making huge leaps in innovation of home computing, portable media and downloadable content. apple tv, HD downloads via the itunes store etc. etc.

their small share of the market is heavily made up of people in digital video production and the ability to integrate recordable BD into their workflow will be a major plus point

it would appear apple are holding back for some reason, i read somewhere they were in talks with sony for producing and suppling them BD-R drives.... i presume they're waiting on the right hardware being available to them

[P-P-S-S]

Originally Posted by rude-dog

i couldn't disagree more. apple are huge as is BD

apple have been making huge leaps in innovation of home computing, portable media and downloadable content. apple tv, HD downloads via the itunes store etc. etc.

their small share of the market is heavily made up of people in digital video production and the ability to integrate recordable BD into their workflow will be a major plus point

it would appear apple are holding back for some reason, i read somewhere they were in talks with sony for producing and suppling them BD-R drives.... i presume they're waiting on the right hardware being available to them

They may have made huge innovations in the home computing department however the fact that their market share in that department is only 7.2% (data provided by Macworld.com )makes them somehow insignificant in my opinion.

With AppleTV the company is aiming to gain market share by sacrificing its profit margins (which usually are around 40-50% on its products). However in order to do so they have cut considerable corners (much like Nintendo did with its Wii). However that products still doesnt have a major share in the market yet. (data source: itnews and iSupply).

iTunes may have just made the leap (as it was announced yesterday by Apple) to provide HD content however the topic of downloadable HD content is still very much debated. A lot of people(myself included) dont like downloadable HD videos for a variety of reasons of which two major ones are: 1. the broadband network in Europe is still not capable of downloading several Gb of content in a short time. 2. downloadable content has no resale possibilities and value since it is not physical media.

Apple may be huge in the iPod and iPhone market but those gadgets dont support HDef anyway.

As long as the film companies keep producing films in BluRay the 'damage' caused by Apple not supporting the format is minimal in my opinion.

[rude-dog]

so i presume your not a mac user then?

the ability to integrate BD in to mac hardware is on the top of many mac users christmas lists!

isnt there supposed to be something like 1.5-2 billion computers worldwide? even if this is hugely over estimated, 7.2% of that is still a lot of mac users!!!

RD

[DeadLake]

Apple has 75 % of the mp3 player market, not important? I don't listen to music on my pc.

I don't know any cd player producer with that much market share and as far as distribution they have the largest marketshare for the *paid for* download.
Anyone under 20 doesn't know what a cd is.....

As far as apple tv, well when broadband bandwidth is high enough this will take off. Downloading is far more convient for content you watch once, rather then listen too many times.

Note the HD recording from itunes also have a SD recording for ipod playback. Guess this is where apple think the market is....

[P-P-S-S]

Originally Posted by rude-dog

so i presume your not a mac user then?

the ability to integrate BD in to mac hardware is on the top of many mac users christmas lists!

isnt there supposed to be something like 1.5-2 billion computers worldwide? even if this is hugely over estimated, 7.2% of that is still a lot of mac users!!!

RD

Dont get me wrong, i dont want to come accross as an Apple hater. I love Apple computers and i wish that they had 70% of the computer market. I have been thinking for a while about my next PC being an iMac but unfortunately their pricing strategy and compatibility issues (with PC software) makes it quite hard for me. MacMini is cheap but not as powerful. Anyway i digress.

I do hope that Apple embrace the BD technology but i dont understand why they are hesitating so much especially when their customers want it so much.

[sh2ta]

They're probably trying to push HD itunes downloads for as long as possible, seeming as digital distribution is the way forward... apparently.

I'll take quality over convenience any day! BD!!