As you all know, Amazon launched its new movie download service, Unbox. Search Engine Journal, CNET and TechCruch have coverage. iTunes is reportedly coming with a similar offering next week. Amazon has the benefit of a trusted brand and, according to many reports, a fairly easy/good user experience. (I haven’t tried it.)
Interesting to consider: how this may affect NetFlix and whether consumers will actually use these services. A new AP-AOL survey casts doubt on how many consumers will use such “full-length” video download sites in the near term.
Also in this immediately crowded space are:
NetFlix was set to launch such a service but has “postponed” it indefinitely. Without some triage, it’s only a matter of time before BlockBuster’s retail business goes belly up. But will the same thing happen eventually to the newer company NetFlix, without a download option? Not in the near term if the AOL survey is correct. (However, this new Ipsos data is more positive for purveyors of download services.)
The convenience of downloading a movie to your desktop (vs. going to the video store or waiting for the US Mail) is great but the viewer-user exerience is not. Until the PC and TV are easily connected or IPTV kicks in, the market for PC-based video downloads is likely to remain relatively small.
September 17, 2006 at 1:08 pm |
[...] Recently, AOL (like many others) launched a “download to own” service. [...]