Apple puts MGM feather in Jobs' cap

Stan Beer
Thursday, 12 April 2007 19:30

Opinion and Analysis

Steve Jobs had his fair share of doubters when he announced that Apple was getting into the movie downloads business. Many thought that Apple would struggle to get the interest of any studios other than Disney. However, once again Jobs is making his detractors eat dirt.

IT Jobs

We specialise in IT and telecommunications positions First there was just Disney, then came Paramount, after which Lionsgate jumped on board. Now the Apple iTunes online store, with its relatively miniscule stock of about 500 movies, is set to get a boost of possibly thousands more from the vast repository of its latest supplier MGM.

Although Apple is still missing the lucrative stocks of films from three major studios in Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros, not many doubt that these studios will soon join the crew of the good ship Apple.

At present, Apple still only offers online movies to its US audience. However, that is bound to change with more than 75% of the potential market being outside the States.

In addition, the release of Apple TV, burgeoning sales of video iPods, as well as Apple's almost uncanny understanding of the entertainment market, will make iTunes an almost irresistible proposition for the rest of the major studios - especially when iTunes stores outside the US start selling video downloads.

The question on the lips of many pundits now is who will be the next studio to join the Apple fold.