Apple to take on Blockbuster with same-day movie releases? Not so fast.
Today's news that Apple will offer movies for download on the same day as their DVD release was widely interpreted as a major breakthrough that will put iTunes in direct competition with Blockbuster. But there's a catch: Apple will only sell the movies, not rent them.
Movie download services ranging from CinemaNow to Vudu to iTunes have long been hamstrung by availability problems. Some movies can be purchased while others can be rented, and there is usually a delay before the films are available for download after their release on DVD.
Apple has used its market dominance to eliminate that delay, and has convinced all major movie studios to offer their new titles on iTunes alongside the DVDs. 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios have all signed on.
New releases will be priced at $14.99 USD, while newly released catalog titles will cost $9.99 USD. Apple is touting "American Gangster" and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" as new titles for this week, although the former was actually released on DVD in February.
Many iTunes users, however, will be disappointed that they cannot rent the new release titles, only purchase them. Rentals cost $3.99 USD for a 24-hour period, and $4.99 USD in HD. Apple has long been a proponent of simplicity for consumers and pioneered the unified 99-cent model for music downloads, no matter how new or popular they are.
But the company holds far less sway in Hollywood, and had to make a number of concessions to attract the major studios, including restricting when movies can be rented. Studios are worried that immediate and widespread availability of rentals that will never run out (Blockbuster has a limited number of discs to rent) could negatively impact DVD sales.
Apple has not said when new release titles will become available for rent, but none of the movies added this week have that option.