It’s a sign of the challenges ahead for Jobs & Co. While Apple’s
dramatic comeback thanks to digital music and the iPod reads like a
Hollywood screenplay, Jobs’ efforts in video-land won’t follow the same
script. Indeed, two years after Apple added video capability to its
iPod line and began selling a smattering of shows and movies on the
iTunes Music Store, its share in video remains minuscule.
Jobs is planning a major offensive to try to change all that, with
at least some of the details to be announced at Macworld on Jan. 15.
Most important, he plans to launch a movie rental service on iTunes for
the first time. Apple is in furious negotiations with top studios to
make their new releases available for the service, as well as for sale.
BusinessWeek has learned that Apple is nearing deals with Warner Bros. and Paramount, and has already secured deals with Disney and 20th Century Fox. Apple is also planning a major upgrade of the slow-selling Apple TV set-top box.
But Jobs is having his troubles in Hollywood. While Apple persuaded the
major record labels to sell every song on iTunes for 99 cents, the
movie studios won’t agree to such standardized terms. Disney and Fox
have agreed to support the new rental service, but have different terms
for when movies will be made available, Hollywood sources say. Lions
Gate may agree to let Apple rent its stuff, but not sell its newer releases. And Sony and Universal, fierce Apple rivals, are unlikely to back Jobs at all.