Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple to ban Hulu from iPad?

D-Love said:
It seems Apple might not approve Hulu because, you know, it might eat into their sales on iTunes. This is speculation of course, but if Apple indeed denies Hulu for anti-competitive means there will be a ton of basklash. :mad: http://industry.bnet.com/media/10006440/ipad-hulu-would-be-networks-trojan-horse/
Click to expand...

And we'll have to wait to see if this is remotely true. But if hulu is banned - what about the Kindle reader? B&N reader? And other devices which would eat sales of iTunes products...
 
"It seems..."

Dude, that's just an analyst shooting his mouth off. Pure speculation. It wouldn't be hard to write the exact opposite article: Why Apple Will (and Should) Allow a Hulu App.
 
apple won't ban hulu app. I own a ipod iphone and apple tv and i don't buy from itunes and many people i know don't buy from itunes. The people that don't want to pay for tv music are not even the ones that use itunes.
 
The responses here have eased my mind a bit on this matter. I realize the article is pure speculation, and noted as such in my OP, but it still concerned me.
 
Apple is a hardware company. They announced in their last conference call that the iTunes store is not terribly profitable. It exists to sell hardware. An HTML5-friendly Hulu would help sell the iPad.
 
In stark contrast I see Hulu becoming an integral part of the iPad.

Look who's involved with it.

"Founded in March 2007, Hulu is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Beijing. NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company, Providence Equity Partners and the Hulu team share in the ownership stake of the company."

"Hulu, a joint venture of News Corp., NBC Universal and Providence, is a leading online video service offering viewers an unmatched selection of streaming, on-demand, premium programming on a free, ad-supported basis. Programming is provided by NBC Universal and News Corp. as well as third-party content partners including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (a Providence portfolio company), Sony Pictures Television and Comcast. Hulu’s distribution partners include AOL, CNET, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo!."


Just the group that Apple wants on board.

Everybody except Google.
 
Why would Apple do that? Hulu is creating a non-flash site specially for the iPad. So I see no sense in Apple banning Hulu.
 
Peace said:
In stark contrast I see Hulu becoming an integral part of the iPad.

Look who's involved with it.

"Founded in March 2007, Hulu is operated independently by a dedicated management team with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Beijing. NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company, Providence Equity Partners and the Hulu team share in the ownership stake of the company."

"Hulu, a joint venture of News Corp., NBC Universal and Providence, is a leading online video service offering viewers an unmatched selection of streaming, on-demand, premium programming on a free, ad-supported basis. Programming is provided by NBC Universal and News Corp. as well as third-party content partners including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (a Providence portfolio company), Sony Pictures Television and Comcast. Hulu’s distribution partners include AOL, CNET, Comcast, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo!."


Just the group that Apple wants on board.

Everybody except Google.
Click to expand...


I was gonna say, I believe Disney is a huge investor in Hulu, and Steve Jobs is the biggest investor in Disney.

I don't think they'd ban a Hulu App.
 
Didn't Apple allow Rhapsody into the app store? Most people would say that's a direct competitor to iTunes. So I fail to see how this changes anything. Apple wants hardware sales above all else, and I believe Hulu would help fuel that. Really--look at the numbers. iTunes sales are nothing compared to hardware. I remember reading a story about it recently. It's somewhere around 5% of everything I believe, though apps have been pushing that higher. Won't state that as fact though. Feel free to look it up.
 
I think that article is sensationalist garbage intended to get clicks. Hulu isn't created an iPad app. They are going to make a HTML5 site that is compatible w/ the iPad. That doesn't require Apple approval.

Also Hulu doesn't hurt Apple and the iPad, it enhances it. What has Apple been trying to do... get developers off the Flash kick. Hulu has become one of the most popular video sites. If Hulu goes HTML5 others are sure to follow.

As for hurting iTMS sales, either you will put up with ads on Hulu or you'll pay to see a video ad-free. I don't buy iTMS videos now and I'm not about to start. Hulu's ads are tolerable and worth saving the $. Plenty of others though want to "own" their videos and watch ad free. That's the free market at work.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
I think that article is sensationalist garbage intended to get clicks. Hulu isn't created an iPad app. They are going to make a HTML5 site that is compatible w/ the iPad. That doesn't require Apple approval.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Apple implemented a nice http streaming function into Quicktime in the iPhone that is perfect for this.
 
The biggest flaw I see in the authors argument is that Hulu and iTunes don't compete. They offer different products completely. iTunes SELLS you an ad-free copy of a TV show for offline viewing any time or place. Hulu streams you the show with ads, only while you are online, and only for as long as they chose to offer the service (they make no promises, at this point, of episodes being available for a specific time frame).
 
mrgreen4242 said:
The biggest flaw I see in the authors argument is that Hulu and iTunes don't compete. They offer different products completely. iTunes SELLS you an ad-free copy of a TV show for offline viewing any time or place. Hulu streams you the show with ads, only while you are online, and only for as long as they chose to offer the service (they make no promises, at this point, of episodes being available for a specific time frame).
Click to expand...

I think Hulu are switching their model to something similar to iTunes..
 
Umm, you are aware that Apple have already been down this road with Spotify right? That's a music streaming service that built an app for iPhone / iPod Touch and had it approved without issues.

The simple fact is, Hulu is going to go to a pay model this year, maybe with some free content, maybe not. I'm almost positive that any app they build will be based around that model. Spotify (and I don't think that they're the only ones) use EXACTLY that model and Apple let 'em through without batting an eyelid, why would it be any different with Hulu?
 
Since Hulu is currently Flash-based, there is no need to ban it on the iPad. Hulu will not run in any acceptable function.

HOWEVER...

Apple now owns Hulu and it would be stupid not to use the new toy with the new sweets. If the iPhone manages YouTube, I'm confident that Apple will solve the problem with Hulu, too.
 
dsnort said:
I think Apple is more about the hardware than the content. Hulu being available on the iPad should be a positive for Apple.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if that's really the case. Apple is certainly milking h/w as much as they can, but you're looking at a one-time purchase as compared to an ongoing revenue stream from iTunes purchases. SJ is obviously going to try to protect and grow both revenue streams as much as possible. I am not sure if it would be completely legal for Apple to block Hulu though (at least I certainly hope they wouldn't be able to do so).
 
I think that if Hulu are actually working on making their site Flash free, mostly for the iPad, they'll find a way to get it on there. Even if it means having some really annoying features and more ads.
 
kernkraft said:
Since Hulu is currently Flash-based, there is no need to ban it on the iPad. Hulu will not run in any acceptable function.

HOWEVER...

Apple now owns Hulu and it would be stupid not to use the new toy with the new sweets. If the iPhone manages YouTube, I'm confident that Apple will solve the problem with Hulu, too.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't own Hulu but they should buy it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back