The MacWorld Expo is the time when Steve Jobs and company traditionally roll out killer apps and whatever else every geek you know will want for Christmas next year. This time around, one announcement is that the iTunes online store will be rolling out a digital 'rental' service for movies, allowing those who pay a fee -- reportedly a staggering four bucks a day -- to download streaming video of movies by a number of major studios direct to their computers. Determined to fill the gap left by WalMart's largely unsuccessful attempt to do the same, Netflix, the revolutionary mail-order movie rental company, is likewise rolling out their Netflix Unlimited plan, allowing higher-tier subscribers (with PCs; the iTunes plan is platform-neutral) to 'rent' movies via download as often as they like.
In a way, it's a typically hardheaded and pointless duel of technologies: Apple's plan is ridiculously overpriced, even for their snob-factor demographic (a fact likely attributable to hardheaded licensing restrictions by the studios). Netflix's plan is platform-limited and, despite their 'unlimited' hype, not available to all subscribers.
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