Before I get to the points that might create a stir, here’s one that won’t: For music, Apple’s iTunes store is an enormous success. Customers have downloaded 8.5 billion songs, making iTunes the top music retailer in the world. The online media bazaar stores credit-card data on 100 million people, indicating that each customer, on average, has downloaded 85 songs.
But when it comes video, iTunes just isn’t a force to be reckoned with. As of Mar. 19, the latest figures available, iTunes customers had bought 250 million TV shows and purchased or rented 33 million movies. That indicates that customers on average have bought 2.5 TV shows and one-third of a movie each.
Let’s face it: iTunes just isn’t where consumers want to buy video entertainment. Yes, it’s great for watching on a PC or handheld device. It also works nicely for TV, if you happen to be one of the relatively small number of AppleTV owners.
Which brings me to another area where Apple hasn’t set the digital world on fire. AppleTV, the device meant to help you watch on TV all that content you’ve downloaded to your computer, hasn’t caught on with consumers who don’t want another device cluttering up the space around their TV.
Here’s a modest proposal for how Apple could remedy both shortcomings — the dearth of video sales on iTunes and the failure to make substantial inroads to the living room.
TVs with ‘iTunes Inside’
Apple should consider making iTunes an ingredient brand by embedding it as an application on smart TVs from other manufacturers. Yes I understand this is a heresy, but hear me out.
Imagine the possibilities: TV sets will be marketed with “iTunes inside” and boast a remote control that itself includes an iTunes button. Pushing the button triggers something very similar to the AppleTV experience, and…