iTunes Movie Rentals - Rumour

[MrJesseRoss]

http://macenstein.com/default/archives/791

Apple announces iTunes movie rentals – sort of

It appears that the big news regarding iTunes 7.4.1 is not the ability to purchase ringtones or the ability to brick your hacked iPhone, it’s that MOVIE RENTALS are coming to the iTunes store, and likely very soon!

David Watanabe posted a screenshot of what for all intents and purposes will serve as Apple’s announcement of iTunes movie rentals.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1020/1344263299_b632c30dce.jpg
“I was trying to report a problem via iTunes, and this pop-up for selecting a reason contains some interesting/revealing strings,” says David. “... looks like “RentalMovies” will be coming to the iTunes store.”

It sure does.

Among the various options when reporting his problem, David noticed tags such as “DidNotReceiveMovie-RentalMovie, AccidentalPurchase-RentalMovie, ContentQuality-RentalMovie, and DuplicatePurchase-RentalMovie.”

All that’s missing (aside form a formal announcement) is pricing details. We’ve heard 30-day rentals for anywhere between $2.99 and $4.99. Of course, this would be even more exciting if iTunes had more than 500 movies. It’s sad to think I actually have a wider selection to choose from than iTunes.

This could be quite good. Cheap movies! Let the speculation begin!

Also, I don't have 7.4.1 yet, so if someone could check this out and confirm, that would be dandy.

[decryption]

The last point is true - I have more movies in my collection than iTunes does :p

If they could rent the movie out to me for 30 days for $3, then after that 30 it stops playing, it might be a success. Would be even better if they let you keep it for $10, but that would never happen, hah

[walexx]

Oh got let this happen, and let us poor ATV users make more use out of our little toys. I have been waiting for movie rentals for ages and hopefully it will be coming soon.

Hmmmmm, now this would be a coool way to blow some time on your iPhone and touch iPod, download a movie rental and watch it while on a flight, bus, or train trip to kill time :).

If they can make the ATV be able to download content and obviously movie rentals I think they would have a killer app, especially those who has access to the U.S. itunes store (remember itunesfairy.com for those who dont, but want to).

Either way they do it though, Im in !!!!!!!!

[luke_in_tas]

iTunes movies would be much more successful if they introduced a rental feature. US$10 or US$15 to buy a movie is too much for something you might only watch one. I've bought a couple of movies from the US iTunes Store, but only when I'm feeling far to lazy to drive to the video store.

TV shows are obviously far more popular on iTunes than movies because of the dramatic price difference. If rental movies came down to around the US$3 price range they would be much more successful. Especially if there was a generous amount of time in which to watch them.

I'd also like to see a try-before-you-buy feature. That way, instead of just having the option to rent or buy, you would have the option to rent, and then if you really like the movie and want to keep it, you would only have to pay the difference between the rental and purchase price.

[melbmac]

IF that happens, I will consider an ATV as well.

[iSlayer]

Interesting. Although they would have to be very cheap to make them viable over physical rental stores.

[iSlayer]

This is not the right place to be discussing stuff like that guys.

Edit - posts have been removed