Wal-Mart Debuts VUDU Movie Service on iPad as Web App, Shutting Down MP3 Store

The UI looks like Walmart too.

… avoiding Apple's required 30% cut of revenue for app-based content purchases by launching as a web app.

Hmm… I think I see a pattern emerging here…

VUDU's service is limited to standard definition

This is a joke, right?

Who the h^&% is dumb enough to watch a movie on that little screen? I think the iPad is a terrific substitute for a PC in a lot of situations, but you cannot make up for that puny, little screen. Can you??

You’re so right! I was watching a TV series in bed the other night, thinking, what an idiot! I should move the TV in here! Or maybe awkwardly hold up a laptop, to give my arms a decent workout and generate some soothing summer heat. And yesterday, out on the porch, I was so dumb too—I could have simply run an extension cord out there and had any size screen I wanted! Later on, I was bored at a friend’s house waiting for them to get ready to leave. Why did I keep watching the show during that wasted time, when I could have waited until I got home? And don’t get me started on my foolishness when someone else is watching something on the big screen, and I want to watch something else in a quieter room of my choosing. And to think I used to do these things sometimes on my little iPhone before I had an iPad! I suppose it’s possible that a small screen held in your lap fills your view the same as a giant screen far away... but the math escapes my walnut brain.

:p

As a firm believer that Wal-Mart is an evil destructive company, I hope they fail at every expansion attempt.

Having a 10 inch screen right in front of you is basically the same as sitting across the room from a 40-50 inch screen. Movies work quite nice on the iPad.

Unrelated: It's about time companies started embracing some web apps. Apple (well, Jobs) said that for native Apps everything must go through our store and play by our rules BUT that is only one of two "stores" on our devices. The other is the web, web apps (porn being a "bad" example) and the web is not regulated by Apple. You can't even block sites with parental controls (pron again heh). This is what they wanted. 2 stores, one with total freedom and one with tight control. You don't have to use one over the other or you can use both like Kindle. It's the best of both worlds.

Agreed, and this second iOS platform—web apps—is not some workaround or way to spite Apple: it has Apple’s full support. In fact, Apple has made mobile Safari in many ways a better web app platform than Google has with their own mobile browsers. Apple has pushed more quickly than Google to bring web app users things like accelerometer support, offline installation on your home screen, and other things that help a web app compete with a native app. Why is Apple doing so much more than others to make web apps great, if they don’t want that option to thrive? People love to parrot “Apple = closed,” but the reality isn’t so simple. And I’m glad.

I hope more companies go this route. Getting 30% cut from App sale is one thing, but for content they do not produce or host such as movies, as it's streamed, they do not deserve any percentage.

Apple provides very valuable service even in those cases: they bring the customers, with existing accounts, credit cards, and trust in the iTunes system; they handle the financial transactions, as well as customer service relating to those transactions; they build and maintain the online store where the “free” player is promoted and discovered; they host the app (storage, power, insurance, staff, bandwidth) and all future updates, including automatically pushing out app updates to all users, which is of grear value to the media company, not just the users. None of that is free for Apple to design, build, test, or operate.

Now, you can certainly argue specific numbers, and 30% sounds high to me, from my armchair here. I hope (and assume) these negotiations haven’t entirely ceased.

Who the h^&% is dumb enough to watch a movie on that little screen? I think the iPad is a terrific substitute for a PC in a lot of situations, but you cannot make up for that puny, little screen. Can you??

How about myself and all my cousins (4) streaming Netflix for weeks while taking turns sitting watch in the SICU after a family member had an accident? I can only watch so much CNN and C-SPAN before I want to hurl myself into traffic. I even watched a few movies on my iPhone *GASP* to give someone else a turn on my iPad.

Sheesh.

No, I believe Netflix only streams in SD too.

At 5Mb/s, Netflix streams at 720p

No, I believe Netflix only streams in SD too.

No

Yes of course it is. :rolleyes:

And wearing video display goggles is the same as sitting in your own movie theater with a 50 foot screen.

Actually he was correct, and you just have an unhealthy fixation with bigger.