Competition for iTunes?
Amazon Unbox, an internet video on demand service is teaming up with TiVo to blur the lines between watching TV and watching web videos. The deal will be announced tomorrow.
Amazon and TiVo are joining forces to bring movies and television shows from the TV to the internet in online video format and then into consumers' living rooms.
Confused yet?
Not only do you need an Amazon account, but also a TiVo device in order to view the downloaded program.
The program called: Amazon Unbox on TiVo is the latest step in trying to raise profile of both Amazon's Unbox, which has been getting lukewarm reception and TiVo, which has been competing with other DVR's entering the market.
The main argument is that Amazon will give customers options to watch the content they download whenever they want. But, that's what DVR's already do. Record the program and watch it whenever you want.
And you need to be a subscriber. Customers can purchase TV episodes for $1.99 (US) and movies for $9.99 to $14.99 or rent them for $1.99.
Another attempt at trying to battle the pirating of media?
The criticism of Amazon Unbox is that the videos will only run on applications supported by Windows Media. How is Amazon going to raise its presence when it can't reach all of its market?
This brings me to iTunes. Is Amazon even a possible threat to iTunes?
On January 9th, iTunes announced that "two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes® Store." This makes iTunes the most popular store for movies and music.
And the bonus is that Apple doesn't alienate its customers. Whether you are using a PC or a MAC, the media is compatible with your software.
Amazon has a lot of catching up to do if it's going to try to gain a portion of this market or iTunes customers. Their project is already poorly received and adding TiVo - an American company - is limiting another portion of their audience - those north of the boarder. Maybe it's time to rethink Amazon's strategy in bringing together the television and the computer screen.
Other competitors?
MSN video
Cinema Now
Amazon and TiVo are joining forces to bring movies and television shows from the TV to the internet in online video format and then into consumers' living rooms.
Confused yet?
Not only do you need an Amazon account, but also a TiVo device in order to view the downloaded program.
The program called: Amazon Unbox on TiVo is the latest step in trying to raise profile of both Amazon's Unbox, which has been getting lukewarm reception and TiVo, which has been competing with other DVR's entering the market.
The main argument is that Amazon will give customers options to watch the content they download whenever they want. But, that's what DVR's already do. Record the program and watch it whenever you want.
And you need to be a subscriber. Customers can purchase TV episodes for $1.99 (US) and movies for $9.99 to $14.99 or rent them for $1.99.
Another attempt at trying to battle the pirating of media?
The criticism of Amazon Unbox is that the videos will only run on applications supported by Windows Media. How is Amazon going to raise its presence when it can't reach all of its market?
This brings me to iTunes. Is Amazon even a possible threat to iTunes?
On January 9th, iTunes announced that "two billion songs, 50 million television episodes and over 1.3 million feature-length films have been purchased and downloaded from the iTunes® Store." This makes iTunes the most popular store for movies and music.
And the bonus is that Apple doesn't alienate its customers. Whether you are using a PC or a MAC, the media is compatible with your software.
Amazon has a lot of catching up to do if it's going to try to gain a portion of this market or iTunes customers. Their project is already poorly received and adding TiVo - an American company - is limiting another portion of their audience - those north of the boarder. Maybe it's time to rethink Amazon's strategy in bringing together the television and the computer screen.
Other competitors?
MSN video
Cinema Now
posted by Anna Kat at 10:38 PM
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