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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes
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Google puts iTunes in its sights

By | August 30, 2010, 6:51am PDT

Google is in talks with Hollywood executives to bring movie rentals to YouTube, according to the Financial Times (subscription needed). This move puts the search giant on a collision course with Apple.

The idea is simple. People are familiar with YouTube, and are happy to while away the hours watching a cat ride a Roomba or a panda sneezing. YouTube is also everywhere - desktops, notebooks, and critically, on mobile devices such as the iPhone. YouTube has enormous reach. Now Google wants to leverage this reach, hoping that people will pay for the privilege of being entertained.

Now, the question isn’t whether people are willing to pay to be entertained, rather will they pay Google/YouTube to be entertained when a) there’s so much free stuff on YouTube. and b) they’re used to paying other companies to be entertained.

One thing that’s interesting here is the Google/Apple link. YouTube was one of the first third-parties to see an app on the iPhone, and a built-in one at that, but thanks to evolving web standards, you can how view YouTube videos through the browser, thus taking a lot of power away from Apple. Google used Apple to attract a new breed of viewer to YouTube, and is now in a position where it doesn’t need to rely on Apple for those users to continue to consume YouTube content.

Add rentals to the mix, and all of a sudden Google and Apple, rather than being allies, are on a collision course. Not only that, but if these pay-per-view services actually work in a mobile sense, Google will then be able to offer iPhone users something that Apple itself cannot. Never underestimate the power and appeal of instant gratification.

Oh, and remember Chrome OS and those cheap mobile devices that Google’s been talking about? Starting to make more sense now, isn’t is?

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Topics

Google Inc., Apple iTunes, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology.

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Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

All opinions expressed on Hardware 2.0 are those of Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. Every effort is made to ensure that the information posted is accurate. If you have any comments, queries or corrections, please contact Adrian via the email link here. Any possible conflicts of interest will be posted below. [Updated: February 23, 2010] - Adrian Kingsley-Hughes has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other actual/potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted so far on this blog.

Biography

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes is an internationally published technology author who has devoted over a decade to helping users get the most from technology -- whether that be by learning to program, building a PC from a pile of parts, or helping them get the most from their new MP3 player or digital camera.

Adrian has authored/co-authored technical books on a variety of topics, ranging from programming to building and maintaining PCs. His most recent books include "Build the Ultimate Custom PC", "Beginning Programming" and "The PC Doctor's Fix It Yourself Guide". He has also written training manuals that have been used by a number of Fortune 500 companies.

Adrian also runs a popular blog under the name The PC Doctor, where he covers a range of computer-related topics -- from security to repairing and upgrading.

Talkback Most Recent of 44 Talkback(s)

  • People are really under estimating ChromeOS. Paired with multi-core Arm
    processors, 2 gig of memory, fast graphics, you will be able to buy a web box that runs circles around Windows 7 boxes for a small fraction of the price. Sure, you can't run MS Office. Big whooopi.

    And, a much, much, more intuitive interface. Sam understands this:

    http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/google-fans-are-the-new-mac-elite-the-users-who-get-it/38560
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    30th Aug 2010
  • Big Whoopi?
    @DonnieBoy

    You do realize that MS Office is still king with office productivity? I'm sitting here right now in class where the professor uses nothing but.
    ChromeOS will gain no more of a following than Linux does now. It is a poor excuse of an OS.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cylon Centurion
    30th Aug 2010
  • Better, MS Office is still king of killing office productivity.
    All of those hours of formatting for printing on 8.5x11 paper, all of the baroque features that are not needed anymore, etc, etc.

    But, even with that argument, for consumers, for that extra computer where they can watch videos, check email, share photos, Facebook, create documents and spreadsheets to share, etc, etc, have about zero need for a bloated office suite from the last century.

    And, Google is not doing too bad with OSes right now. Seems like Android is beating the stuffing out of Microsoft's offering in the mobile space. All of Windows OSes for mobile are as you say "are a poor excuse of an OS".
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    30th Aug 2010
  • Because we HAVE to print?
    @NStalnecker

    Printing is still needed Donnie. And Office is far from bloated.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cylon Centurion
    30th Aug 2010
  • Consumers have very little need for printing, and NO need for detailed
    formatting. And, MS Office IS very bloated and packed with baroque features from the last century.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    30th Aug 2010
  • Aight.
    Whatever you say. This is getting old.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cylon Centurion
    30th Aug 2010
  • Yes, it really is getting old, all of the people still thinking we must
    print on 8.5x11. All of the baroque feature in MS Office are looking more stupid every day.

    Consumers have moved on though and print almost nothing. There are more and more homes without even one printer!!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    30th Aug 2010
  • In this case, I have to agree with DonnieBoy.
    @NStalnecker

    Very few people still need to print anything at home. By way of anecdotal evidence, I have a laser printer that is still using a 7 or 8 year old toner cartridge due to the lack of printing done by my family. The last time my wife turned the printer on was two months ago to print out an online coupon for a product at a local store. I don't even remember the last time that I turned the printer on. My daughter doesn't even print out book reports and the like. Those are emailed straight to the teacher.

    The only reason I have the laser printer is because my ink-jet rocked up from disuse and I still had some need to print out documents back then.

    I won't weigh in on the MS Office vs Open Office debate since I haven't used MS Office in the last 3 or 4 years.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Letophoro
    30th Aug 2010
  • At home, I rarely print
    In fact, I never print. Never owned a printer in my life, but at school and at work that is a totally different story. I'm required to print homework assignments and term papers, and at work, well let's just say, we kill more trees than we should need to. Printing isn't going away soon, I'm afraid.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Cylon Centurion
    30th Aug 2010
  • HOURS formatting for 8.5 x 11" paper..? WTF...
    @DonnieBoy
    Most word processing apps automatically default to that or A4 paper - depending on your region.

    Dude... This IS 2010.. not 1980.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Wolfie2K3
    30th Aug 2010
  • RE: Google puts iTunes it its sights
    @NStalnecker : Your friend DonnieBoy seems to be more like a DonnieEmbryo to me, who doesn't know Microsoft Office.

    I run a Winodws 7, I have 2GB ram and Office is not the only software I run. And it runs really good.

    There are people who judge quality by company name.

    @Donnie : You play with toys, we will work with real stuff. By the way, I heard Oracle giving a nice treat to Google at courts... happy

    My name is Deen, I am PC and I run Windows 7 (and I don't use Google)
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ziyan-Junaideen
    30th Aug 2010
  • I Loved Office.... but rarely use it now!
    @NStalnecker As long as people have access to the Cloud, whether it be Azure, IBM or Google the average person is increasingly going paperless. I now pay all bills except water utility that way and if they'd move into this century, I'd be paying it paperless too! ...one less reason to go to the mailbox to collect more junk to fill the trash can!

    http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

    Next year when 4G comes to my home as well as my mobile phone, it'll be time to burn all the hardwires and cables into my house (except power naturally). I've used VOIP as primary home phone for 10yrs and this house has never seen a phone wire connected to it while getting superior service.

    We ditched cable TV ages ago too, and now more web video and TV content is provided by YouTube. I'll take content I can control with choice over fixed broadcasts that are only available at certain times over a cable wire any day. I'm already watching full length movies on YouTube, Boxee and Hulu!

    Oh...... ink cartridges always seem to dry up before they need replacing. So here if there's anything that needs printing, it can be printed at work, school for the kids or my neighbors to keep his printer ink from drying up as well! wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    i2fun@...
    30th Aug 2010
  • RE: Google puts iTunes it its sights
    @DonnieBoy All that speed for what exactly? Web surfing, some office-type apps? Chrome OS is NOT a gaming OS by any means and until that happens Chrome OS might as well not even exist for me.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Pete "athynz" Athens
    30th Aug 2010
  • The things we do with browsers requires more CPU and memory all the time.
    We need high performance graphics as well. Browsers will soon be supporting GPU accleration.

    All of this will be a lot cheaper to deliver with ARM.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    DonnieBoy
    30th Aug 2010
  • Google might be a bit late to the game
    If they had tried this a few years ago their chances would have been better.

    Today Apple is going strong with their iOS devices added to iPods and iTunes (Mac & Win). That's a lot of devices using iTunes.

    Now Google will be better off following Apple, with features like the AppStore, but I see a lot of challenges ahead in trying to actually beat Apple.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Ken_z
    30th Aug 2010
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