Apple ’s plan for cloud computing go beyond euphony .
The party ’s representatives have recently spoken with some of the major film studios about enabling iTunes users to stash away their content on the company ’s servers , two people familiar with the discussion assure CNET . That ’s in accession to streaming them idiot box show and medicine .
Apple has told the studios that under the plan , iTunes users will access video from various net - connected gadget . Apple would of course choose that exploiter access video from the iPad , the companionship ’s approaching tablet computer , the sources said . Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said Apple does n’t comment on rumor or surmisal .
The intelligence comes a month afterApple spoke to the major recordcompanies about a similar plan involve medicine . Apple ’s imagination is to make proverbial digital shelves where iTunes users store their medium , say one of the sources . “ Basically , they need to obviate the hard drive , ” the reference said .
By cramming digital songs , videos , and all manner of software program applications on computers and handheld gadget , there ’s some indication that consumer are maxing out hard drives , particularly on small-scale mobile devices . That ’s precede to speculation among Apple watchman that some consumers might slow their buying of Modern content if they have nowhere to easily put it .
It ’s a chip of jump to pass that ratiocination , certainly when a stagnant economy might be hampering sales , but there are some worrisome signs . The NPD Group reported last calendar week that the identification number of people who lawfully downloaded songsdropped by nearly a million , from 35.2 million in 2008 to 34.6 million last year . Screen Digest , a research house that focuses on the amusement manufacture say Monday that growth in movie downloadsslowed dramatically in 2009following sharp increases in the two anterior years . Screen Digest had projected that total U.S. on-line movie sales for 2009 would come in at about $ 360 million , but the total only reached $ 291 million , the fellowship said .
Before iTunes user can store their movies and TV show in Apple ’s swarm , the fellowship must get the studios to sign on . This may not be gentle . The studio want to make certain that whatever Apple plans are friendly to other non - Apple devices and services .
Hollywood is n’t interested in any walled garden , say James McQuivey , a media analyst with Forrester Research .
“ The studios are very interested that they ’re going to get rope into somebody ’s proprietary program , ” McQuivey say . “ They need a world where consumers have a family relationship with the content and not with the gimmick or the service . They are in a position to force Apple to go along and ensure that if cognitive content bought from iTunes will work on a Nokia earphone . That is very un - Apple like .
“ Apple would opt not to do this , ” McQuivey continued . “ But it just does n’t have the purchase it once did . Apple ca n’t dictate terminus or position itself as a digital Good Shepherd . ”
The reason that Apple does n’t wield the same power over the movie and TV manufacture that it did with euphony is that there ’s more participant that are uncoerced to give the studios what they want .
The Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem ( DECE ) is a consortum of heaving - shoot media stakeholders lining up to create monetary standard for file data formatting , digital rights direction , and authentication technologies . The radical includes Adobe , Best Buy , Cisco , Comcast , Intel , HP , Lionsgate , Fox , Microsoft , Netflix , Panasonic , the four big recording companies , Samsung , Sony , and Warner Bros. Entertainment .
DECE ’s finish is to check that that a movie or TV show bought from Comcast ’s telecasting serve will work on Samsung devices or on Netflix ’s servicing .
Not all the studios have joined . Disney has create a DECE - like help called KeyChest , which is supposed to be DECE compatible .
Applying more force per unit area on Apple is Google , one of its principal rivals . Google , apparently , has YouTube . It ’s also eyeing some start - ups with cloud technology to beef up its streaming services .
Two weeks ago , sources recount CNET that Google had intimate acquisition talks with Catch Media , a Los Angeles company that wants to become a clearinghouse of variety , where consumers move media around the Web and Catch handles the permissions and licensing .
So what ’s Apple ’s answer to the Google threat ? Apple is build a newfangled data nitty-gritty in North Carolina that , allot to account , will be the backbone of its streaming offerings . In December , Apple purchase Lala , a struggling music service with an expertness in cloud computation . Google was also trying to evolve the party but Apple outbid them .
The one thing that could serve Apple pull off from Google and give it some poke with the studio and TV meshwork is if iPad catch on with consumer .
The Web - enabled electronic computer tablet , which is due to hit store shelf afterward this calendar month , feature a 9.7 - in show concealment and can playback video in up to 720p , the beginning said . If consumers depart buy video to watch on the iPad , Hollywood could moderate its stance on touchstone . But McQuivey say Apple ca n’t make any proprietary formatting at this point .
“ Apple ca n’t suddenly make the iPad a closed environment , ” he tell . “ Netflix , and Amazon have built apps ( for the iPhone ) and Apple is not any position to reject to restrict its customers ’ option . By pioneering ( the apps ) , Apple is stuck doing what ’s veracious for consumers . ”
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