Video rentals next for Apple
pple is planning to launch an online movie rental service by fall, though the company is meeting resistance from some Hollywood studios concerned about piracy, people familiar with the plan told the Associated Press on Monday. Apple might try to launch the service sooner to coincide with the planned June 29 introduction of its iPhone, which will play video files, according to three people who requested anonymity because the talks are ongoing.
Several studios are reluctant to license films to Apple to rent because the company will not modify software to make it recognize pirated content and prevent it from being transferred to an iPod or iPhone, according to the people familiar with the talks. Those same reasons, plus objections to Apple’s rigid pricing, have kept several studios, including Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co., Twentieth Century Fox, which is owned by News Corp., and Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. from selling its movies on iTunes.
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