The New York Post reports that Wal-Mart is warning Hollywood studios against partnering with Apple's iTunes Store for movie distribution.
According to studio executives, "Wal-Mart has overtly threatened to retaliate if [studios] go into business with Apple."
While Apple has only signed one movie studio (Disney) to the iTunes store, the early success has caught the attention of other studios. One executive is quoted as saying "We all want to be in the Apple business".
The threat of Wal-Mart repurcussions, however, may temper iTunes partnerships as Wal-Mart controls a large portion of the retail market for DVDs.
The situation between [Wal-Mart] and Hollywood has gotten so heated and so high-level that Jobs recently phoned Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott to ask him to moderate his stance, according to a source.
Update: This Reuters story claims that Wal-Mart has said it is not trying to dissuade movie studios from working with Apple's iTunes service.
"The Post story appears to be a rehashing of the misinformation that's been printed previously," a Wal-Mart spokeswoman said in a statement.
Wednesday March 11, 2026 7:05 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Starting today, the seven new Apple products that were announced last week are available at Apple Stores and beginning to arrive to customers.
The colorful MacBook Neo and all of the other new products are on display at most Apple Store locations around the world starting today. Apple Stores have inventory of the new products for both walk-in customers and Apple Store pickup, but...
Apple is continuing to test the iOS 26.4 beta, and the latest update is now available for developers and public beta testers. As testing goes on, there are fewer new features in each beta, but today’s release adds new emoji characters and a few other changes.
New Emoji
Apple added new emoji characters, including trombone, treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature, fight cloud, orca,...
Apple is planning to launch an all-new "MacBook Ultra" model this year, featuring an OLED display, touchscreen, and a higher price point, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Gurman revealed the information in his latest "Power On" newsletter. While Apple has been widely expected to launch new M6-series MacBook Pro models with OLED displays, touchscreen functionality, and a new, thinner design...
