Set these coordinates on your time machine in case you want to revisit the point where Web video distribution officially came into its own.
This is the window - the summer, the month, the week - that the Web has become the locus of consumption for uploaded and downloaded video content. For video viewing and sharing, there is YouTube along with Google Video and Yahoo! Video. Add a cavalcade of other vid-aggregators, and it is clear online video has reach its cruising altitude in consumer adoption. You are now free to move about the videosphere.
This week, Amazon and Apple have touched down to fulfill the download stream for video content. For the Web, this new video inflection point represents an important new opportunity. For the consumer, it offers a new dimension of choice.
Amazon’s announcement on Thursday of the Unbox, a conduit for downloading high resolution digital video to the desktop, or to a portable device other then the Apple iPod, raises the burning question of whether consumers can print this video to CD, or be satisfied with viewing on their laptops and desktops.
Amazon’s service is the first of its kind to offer DVD-quality resolution, according to the company. In the initial launch, thousands of television shows, films, and other video content have been made available including a scoop of the original Star Trek episodes to take video watchers to seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no video has gone before.
A unique aspect of the service is that videos can be purchased from one computer and downloaded to another. Amazon’s V.P. of digital media, Bill Carr, notes that consumers can now purchase videos from Amazon Unbox at work and then download the movies at home.
Unbox has its own real estate on the Amazon site, at www.amazon.com/unbox, and allows users to shop by TV channel, category, genre, or studio. Participating movie studios include 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.
Television episodes are priced at $1.99 each, with most movies costing between $7.99 and $14.99. Renting videos for $3.99 each is also an option for U.S. customers — videos can be stored on a PC for 30 days, but once the user has started watching it, they have 24 hours before it expires.
With millions of consumers paying something around $1.99 per movie for a bushel of Netflix DVDs by the month, the price point leaves much to be desired and clearly the consumer will have a vote in this primary.
Previews for some shows and movies are available, even for older films. On the current Unbox homepage, users can watch snippets of “V for Vendetta” and “Office Space,” or TV shows “Prison Break” and “Laguna Beach.”
Unbox will be made part of Amazon Your Media Library, a personalized Web page that lists content purchased from the e-tailer, such as books, CDs, and DVDs.
Amazon’s announcement comes just days ahead of a planned media event by Apple Computer, which will include the launch of their video download service.
Although some users do watch movies and TV shows on their laptops, a much stronger matchup is the video iPod with TV shows, and potentially movies, sold through iTunes. The possibility of an enhanced iPod for motion picture viewing would go far to vindicate Steve Jobs oft-repeated refrain that the iPod form factor is too small for optimal video viewership.
Nevertheless, industry analysts give Apple the inside edge. For one thing, the iPod’s penetration and portability are unrivaled. Video podcasts have also made great headway on the iPod. And Apple has held the early mover advantage for the last six months.
It would appear that Amazon will have to open up its options for living room playability and support for something other than the Amazon Media Player to break out of the box with Unbox.
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