According to US BusinessWeek Apple In much the same way it upended online distribution of music, Apple may now be poised to redefine the way movies are rented online. According to published reports, Apple and Fox plan to bring movie rentals to Apple's popular iTunes Store, and through that to its family of iPod media players and the iPhone. The two companies are said to have concluded an agreement that will have Fox movies available for limited-time viewing via iTunes as they are released on DVD.
Online film rental is only now getting off the ground. Telstra Bigpond which specializes in mail-order movie rentals, recently launched an online movie rental service that lets consumers order movies and watch them instantly on a computer.
As a result of online competition some companies in the USA have scrapped video download efforts altogether. Wal-Mart Stores closed its download service on Dec. 21, according to a statement on its Web site. Hewlett-Packard discontinued the service because the market for paid video downloads did not perform "as expected," Reuters reported, citing an HP spokesman.
