By Thomas ClaburnInformationWeek
The participating movie studios include 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lionsgate, Image Entertainment, and First Look Studios.
New film releases on iTunes are priced $14.99, while older titles sell for $9.99. The DVDs of recently released films vary in price on Amazon, though they tend to range from $14.99 to $22.99, with higher prices usually reflecting the inclusion of extra discs or supplementary material.
The iTunes Store offers 6 million songs, 600 TV shows, and more than 1,500 films, 200 of which are available in a high-definition format, according to Apple.
Apple's ability to offer films for sale through its iTunes Store on the day they are released represents a significant vote of confidence by Hollywood, which has long been wary about doing anything that might cannibalize DVD revenue.
In addition to selling films through iTunes, Apple began offering videos for rent in January. Apple has not disclosed how its rental offering has been doing.
Asked about Apple's iTunes Store rental business during the recent second-quarter 2008 conference call for investors, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said only, "Our movie rental service has been well-received by customers..."
However, Oppenheimer did cite an NPD report saying that iTunes had surpassed Wal-Mart to become the largest music retailer in the United States. Apple's iTunes Store has more than 50 million customers and an 85% share of the U.S. market for legally purchased and downloaded music, he said.
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