Steve Jobs on Music, Movies, Apple

Category: Opinion/Interviews
Link: Steve Jobs: The Rolling Stone Interview

Posted on MacBytes.com

Approved by arn

Hmmm...that was an intresting read...

i agree. really interesting. ok people. now stop talking about a "movie store".

Shouldn't it say "Do you see an iTunes movie store?"

It may be corrected by the time I post this.

Yup it was.

Hey the guy talks sense!

Viv

Jobs replies: "We don't think that's what people want. A movie takes forever to download -- there's no instant gratification."

He couldn't be more wrong. Sure, it's not for everybody just yet, but from my own experience living in a college dorm with a superfast internet connection, the truth couldn't be further from what he thinks.

Apple has already made a huge hit with the iTunes Music Store in terms of publicity and mindshare recognition, but that hasn't really translated into much sales for college age kids. A song is considered relatively to purchase online from a buck apiece, and it's still much easier to just download from a P2P service. People are always hyping the ease of use and reliability of legal sites, but it's really not that big of a deal. P2P networks aren't exactly difficult to use, and if you do happen to download a bad copy of a song, you just go back and find another to download.

A movie, on the other hand, is what really would benefit from an online store. It takes longer to download a movie than a song, but with a speedy internet connection, it can take as little as 5-10 minutes, sometimes even less. Sure, that's not instant gratification, but it's plenty for most people. The main problem here, however, is reliability. There is a far greater proportion of "bad" copies of movies on P2P networks than music. People have already been shown to be willing to pay for "soft" copies of movies via pay-per-view on cable, so why wouldn't they do the same for high-qualityz, reliable copies from an online movie store? A lot more people watch movies on their computers than all those know-it-all analysts think.

Another important issue is selection. One of the often cited advantages of P2P music is the ability to find old and rare tunes, but that isn't really the case with movies. Rare movies are just as hard to come by as Beatles music is on the iTMS. Instead of 30-sec previews, Apple could show trailers of movies in an online movie store.

I believe that, in the long run, an online movie store has a far greater greater potential revenue stream than a music store. And I don't think it's too late to get the bandwagon started today.

Re the advances (at the end of the article), I don't think those can be eliminated, because the musician uses that to hire musicians, buy better equipment, get a good studio, etc. They could probably be reduced, I suppose.

I think that what he said about Dell and M$ is quite interesting.
I have to agree with him on Dell, there just some things you want to see and hold...and then take home with you right now.
As for the M$ comment I am not so sure. Yes they may be making a copy & maybe it won't be as good but you put that copy on every desktop of every new computer and before long they start gaining market share by default, not because they are better.

sj has it really figured out - he UNDERSTANDS the market, i am gonna call my broker and order more AAPL :D

no nonsense, I love it! Steve has his feet grounded, that's for sure. Talk to Bill Gates, Ballmer, the head of any major technology company and they blah blah blah away telling you about things you don't need. They got their heads in the clouds, and most of the "innovations" that come out these days don't simplify your life one bit. That's why Apple is so successful under Steve Jobs - he gets rid of all the bullsh*t and says "will people actually use it", and "will it make their lives better". Isn't that why wwee love OS X? Isn't that why we love iTMS? Isn't that why we love, iTunes, iMovie, iCal?