Apple in Talks with Wal-Mart over Movies 176
Alex, Variety.com writes "If you can't beat 'em ... Apple and Wal-Mart are in discussions over an alliance that could allow the giant retailer to profit from iTunes video downloads. Apple would then gain access to titles from every major studio." From the article: "A deal could take the form of a digital download 'coupon' that would allow consumers to buy movies, TV shows or music on iTunes with Apple paying the retail giant a percentage of the proceeds, one industry insider said ... Hollywood has been closely watching Disney's relationship with Wal-Mart in the wake of the deal. When Wal-Mart caught wind of talks between the studios and Apple, it threatened to cut its order of 'High School Musical' over the summer. Disney CEO Bob Iger did the deal with Jobs anyway, and the rest of Hollywood has been watching to see if and when the other shoe drops."
Re:Jump in logic (Score:3, Informative)
Re: Wal-Mart and employment (Score:3, Informative)
I am sure that if these people could get jobs elsewhere (k-mart, target or any other place) they would. But they cant.
Re:Not sure this means what I think it means (Score:3, Informative)
BZZT. Try again. I start watching iTunes downloads within seconds of the download starting. There's usually enough bandwith for full streaming.
You don't really think that Apple is sending MPEG-2 files, do you? From what I understand, they're using far tighter Quicktime/MPEG-4 compression schemes. (Note that not all of their videos use the same scheme.) An hour long TV show (usually about 45 minutes without commericals) is usually only 300MB. Which comes out to (300 * 1024) / (45m * 60s) [google.com], or 113kb/sec. Most broadband connections can handle that sort of data rate. Even if you can only get, say, 80k/sec, you don't have to buffer for very long before you can start watching.
Re:Getting in bed with the devil... (Score:3, Informative)
I expect you'll still be able to boycott Wal-Mart, download music and support artists all at the same time.
Re:Jump in logic (Score:5, Informative)
walmart has heavy handed tatics
something most people don't know is that the way walmart does supplier contracts is they place the order - it is delivered - they only pay for the product once it go out the door. While the items are sitting on the shelf or in the back room walmart has no money in them.. like wise when someone returns some thing it goes back to the supplier and walmart gets a credit for it.. so if they order 1000000 widgets and just let them sit in a warehouse for 3 months and then just send them back the suplier paid to make and ship 1000000 widgets and then 3 months later got them handed back to them and never say a dime while the whole time they have all their money on the line.
they break companies.. i have heard stories from people that work in their ware houses about how they will place orders and then when they arive hold them.. and wait then call the supplier back up and demand a reduction in the price or they will send them back because they don't feel it will sell well. at that point unless the supplier is huge they don't have much choice. The way walmart does their suppier contracts makes this all legeal - and they woln't use you if you don't accept the terms..