In October 2009, an Apple patent pointed to MobileMe taking on a new media twist to its cloud based services which would cover more media types including television, movies and more. Today, The New York Times hints that we could actually get a peek at this kind of service which could be in sync with Disney's forthcoming KeyChest program debuting at CES this week. Disney's KeyChest VOD Services will be going against the grain here and likely end up being the only challenger to the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) initiative/coalition launching their new service at CES. The coalition consists of studios Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, Sony, Paramount and Fox along with technology companies Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Intel and Best Buy. The DECE state that this new system will provide a revolutionary new way to enjoy your favorite movies, TV shows and other entertainment. The NYT report states that "Hollywood also wants to avoid having a single company like Apple enticing people to buy only from its own closed digital system, and ending up with an inordinate degree of control over matters like pricing. Movie executives shudder at the power Apple accumulated over the music labels with iTunes…"
In October, The New York Times had speculated that Apple could be on board KeyChest – though that particular announcement, if true, would likely be reserved for Apple's January 26, 2010 event and not CES. A secondary patent of interest in context with this project, would be one published just last week describing a push button antenna using coaxial cable technology. Yet the problem of wireless congestion is ever present. Can global networks realistically digest the next wave of video services at this time?
The industry is also trying to get ahead of Apple's tablet news by touting a new reference design for a tablet from Freescale Semiconductor. Although Apple definitely has a fight on their hands, their iTunes Store currently has the Big Mo (momentum) on its side - and if Apple's new tablet is on cue, then the PR battle has been won months ago. Did you really think that the tablet rumors were invented by accident? Ha!
At the end of the day, will Apple and Disney be the David against Goliath here? And more importantly, do you think that AT&T could realistically handle an ultracool Apple tablet geared for wireless video downloads at this point in time?
How do you think this will play out? Speak up now and make your comments known.
