Is Apple Playing Games with iTunes Rentals?

by Carlos Granier-Phelps

Last night, my friends decided to rent Superbad since some of them had not seen the movie already. They looked for it on Comcast OnDemand but it was no longer available. I knew I’d rented it in HD from the AppleTV store, cheaper than Comcast, so we looked there as well. I was surprised to find that Apple now only has Superbad for sale at $14.99 and no HD version.

Where is the rental version of this movie? Why has it suddenly disappeared? The AppleTV was even kind enough to remind me I’d already rented this movie when I tried to buy it.

I wonder what’s going on here… is Apple carrying out some kind of experiment? Do you know of any other movies removed from the rental pool?

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[image found via http://scenescreen.wordpress.com/2007/12/03/he-said-she-said-superbad/]

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  • Randall King
    I noticed this, too. It's not what I expected after watching the announcement that Steve Jobs made (at either WWDC or MacWorld, I can't remember which). They need to stay consistent or customers will become frustrated. I'd bet it has something to do with the studios, though. After all, why would Apple want to *remove* content from its store? They would want to add more and more content to attract more customers, make more money, get more users on board with using Apple products, etc.
  • when is commin'out? Why has it suddenly disappeared? The AppleTV was even kind enough to remind me I’d already rented this movie when I tried to buy it.
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