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No “Bag of Hurt” Option on New MacBooks

by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 4:59 PM PT

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Fielding questions from the audience after Tuesday’s MacBook launch event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was asked why the company isn’t offering Blu-ray DVD drives as an option on its newer machines. A reasonable question. Apple (AAPL) was an early backer of Blu-ray, but hasn’t exactly been an early adopter of the technology. Hewlett-Packard and other PC makers are offering their systems with a Blu-ray option, why not Apple?

“Blu-ray is a bag of hurt,” Jobs replied. “Not from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is very complex. So we’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing.”

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  • For many consumers these formats, including Blu-ray, are fighting the battle of diminishing returns. I'm satisfied with dvd movies on my big tv, totally. I'm getting old I suppose, but I'm not craving anything beyond dvd quality - not even a little.
    For less than the price of a Blu-ray player I have a dvd recorder.
    I'd only be interested in Blu-ray in terms of burning data from a computer. Even then I'm not that interested. I tend to back up on sata drives, not optical disks.
  • With millions of PS3's in homes, Netflix and Blockbuster support, Blu-ray is attractive. Apple should think a bit about content creators who need to deliver Blu-ray and are moving to Windows and /or Adobe Encore. Many of them may be thinking why use any Apple products soon. I support many of these video pros that are in this position. All it would take is a Blu-ray option on the Mac Pro and DVD Studio Pro supporting Blu-ray!
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About John

John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »

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Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.

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