Apple to launch Netflix competitor?

digitalbabe

Premium Supporter
Apr 12, 2009
42,350
USA
This and other articles on the web say it may be so...

Per Home Media Magazine:

Apple Inc. is readying a cloud-based subscription digital storage system that would focus on video content, including movies and TV shows, an analyst said.

The unnamed platform would operate domestically (with an international link in the works) linking video content with the Apple iPhone, iPad, iTouch and a possible standalone iTV. Such a system would rival similar platforms such as Sony-backed UltraViolet and Disney’s KeyChest.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Jeffries & Co., said that in talks with developers and content owners he came to believe Apple’s data center in North Carolina would soon go live, with an adjacent facility earmarked for construction as well.

“We find it notable that the content companies, citing a lack of domain license, asked Cablevision to remove channels from its iPad app,” Misek wrote in a note. “We believe these same companies are negotiating some sort of deal with Apple.”

The analyst believes Steve Jobs’ last act before relinquishing control of the company includes overhauling video distribution to the consumer similar to Apple’s transformation of mobile, computing and music.

“It is also notable that his authorized biography is due in 2012,” Misek wrote.

A move by Apple into video storage also could coincide with Amazon’s launch last month of separate cloud-based audio and video digital storage systems for the Web and Android devices that accept media purchases from anywhere. The online retail behemoth gives registered consumers 5GB of cloud-based storage, with additional annual $1-per-GB upgrades from 20 GB to 1,000 GB (1 TB).

Amazon, in a letter obtained by Billboard magazine, claimed its storage system has driven music sales in 2011.
 
I don't see Mobile Me becoming free, the whole remote session thing that Apple implemented cost them time and money. Plus is extra revenue for them. I can't see them eliminating it just because they want to be nice. However, using MobileMe as their starting point sounds like a good place to start.