HP: Movie download arms dealer
Why worry about creating the next iTunes, lining up movie studios and entering the Web's movie download war when you can just supply the arms?
Sounds like a decent plan and one that Hewlett-Packard is pursuing. Lost in the conversation about Wal-Mart's movie download site is that HP's technology is running it in the background.
And if Wal-Mart succeeds--today's performance has been spotty--HP will have a great reference customer to pitch its wares elsewhere. Don't underestimate how big of a deal this is for HP. When it comes to media services IBM is perceived as a technology leader and has major video clients such as NFL Films.
But if HP can offer turnkey solutions--dubbed Video Merchant Services--to anyone that wants to be a video download player it'll be quite a coup. HP is also adding a few neat features, including one where you can track related movies by actor.
The challenge for HP is landing more customers. Wal-Mart is a big flagship customer, but the market is crowded despite the fact there are no clear winners.