Warner Brothers sells movies as apps, skirts iTunes
In an interesting move, Warner Brothers has released two movies as apps -- including extras -- semi-skirting the iTunes Store. The idea is to offer movies to customers who live in countries without movie sales via iTunes. Of course, Apple still gets the 30 percent cut of the in-app purchase cost.
Interestingly, this technique goes directly against one of the clauses in Apple's current App Store guidelines, 2.21: "Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes store. Apps that are simply a book should be submitted to the iBookstore." Apparently not all apps-as-movies are created equal.
Movies are distributed as in-app purchases via free universal iOS apps (one per film). As of this writing, only two movies are available: The Dark Knight and Inception. Once you've made your choice, the app offers DVR-like controls and works over Wi-Fi and 3G. You'll also find scene selection and extras like trivia. Fun, no?
Their prices are US$9.99 for streaming or $11.99 for purchase. Of course, movies are big, and at 1.2 GB, The Dark Knight gobbles up a good amount of your device's internal storage.
It looks like fun. Let us know what you think if you check it out.
[via 9to5Mac]
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In an interesting move, Warner Brothers has released two movies as apps -- including extras -- semi-skirting the iTunes Store. The idea is...
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Why in the world would you buy a digital movie for $11.99 as an app so you can't do crap with it but play it on ONE device and at a FULL RETAIL movie price no less??? It's uber greedy Hollywood business as usual I see. Your Apple TV and iTunes won't understand the app so you're pretty much screwed into buying it on iTunes/DVD/Blu-ray AGAIN to watch it anywhere else. This needs to be nominated as the WORST app ever. BOOOOOOOOOOO!
February 17 2011 at 8:04 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyexactly! First of all, I don't know who wants to see a full movie on such a tiny screen on a device like a cellphone/mp3 player… Of course the iPad is bigger so that gives a bigger screen, but then chances are still big users would rather see a full movie on their television or computer screen (especially as more and more users get bigger computer screens, I personally watch everything from my couch on my 21" iMac).
Secondly, who wants to pay such an astronomical price for something you might use once or twice… I pay the same amount to see the movie in the cinema, or buy the dvd for it when released.
I do agree that not all country's have an iTunes store, but then again; why buy a movie for such a price that can be viewed only on small portable devices in the first place? Get the dvd for that money…
Great choice! I mean those movies are wonderful! Both The Dark Knight and Inception would satisfy customers who live in countries without movie sales via iTunes. By the way these filns you can find here: http://www.torrentoff.com
February 17 2011 at 5:02 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyCost of inception $US 11.99 $AUS22.99 I don't know what exchange rate Warner Bros are using! Rip off...
OK, so as the article notes, "Apple's current App Store guidelines, 2.21: 'Apps that are simply a song or movie should be submitted to the iTunes store. Apps that are simply a book should be submitted to the iBookstore.'"
The key word in the guidelines is "should". As someone who has had to write IT policy - including security policies - using "should" leaves wiggle room. If Apple wants to lock it down, they'd have to change it to "must".
So, WB is technically fine here.
WB doesn't need semantic games. The rule is JUST a movie, JUST a book etc. This is not just the movie. There is added value. Unlike all those asian language apps that are just a pdf of a book that, to add salt to the wound, isn't even under the developers copyright control most of the time
February 18 2011 at 11:45 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI don't like this model. Having videos collected in one app is ideal. You can surf through the collection. You can manage them with smart playlists so that watched videos remove themselves. It's cleaner and easier. A one-app-per movie approach seems like it will clutter up your screen and require more direct intervention to remove it. And when you want to watch something you know you've paid for, it's just one more place you have to look for it. Also you lose the ability to play it on your desktop. All-in-all, it seems like a bad move. Unless the special features are something worthwhile that you couldn't package with the movie in iTunes, then I don't know why this would be desirable from a consumer's point of view.
Comic books has this annoying, fragmented approach, too, where specific publishers have their own apps, specific writers have their own apps, specific titles have their own apps, and sometimes specific issues have their own apps. If you buy a comic, you have to make certain you know who published it if you want to find it again. And that doesn't always work because some publishers sell the same titles through multiple apps.
It's all a mess, and I understand why Apple would have a policy to offer movies through iTunes rather than through the app store. I wonder why they didn't enforce it. I can understand why Warner Brothers would like it, though. If they can sell it to you in a very device-specific format, they can sell it to you again for the next device.
You guys just don't get it. There are countries besides the states. I live in Russia, and apple does not have an iTunes store here, so we're unable to purchase any media content at all. And there are many other countries like us, which represent a big market that apple had missed. Being able to buy movies without pirating it, is great. You don't have to turn to torrent sites, trying to find a movie with a proper quality, you don't have to encode whatever you have found to a the proper codec/resolution/etc., for that thing to be able to played on the iPhone. I've obviously watched TDK and Inception, both are gorgeous, awesome movies, and i've just bought them as the apps. I'm travelling to another city this weekend, and i'll be able to watch those two movies on the go. Great thing to have.
February 16 2011 at 4:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWill it play through component cables to a TV? My guess is probably not since movie studios don't like to let us watch movies.
February 16 2011 at 3:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replywhat if u already have a digital copy of both movies? will the app know when you sync the movies to ur iDevice? I have both digital copies from when i bought the blu ray of inception and the DVD of The Dark Knight.
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