No “Bag of Hurt” Option on New MacBooks
by John Paczkowski
Posted on October 14, 2008 at 4:59 PM PT
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.”
Comments
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.
Posted by Murphy Mac at October 15th, 2008 at 5:55 amFor 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!
Posted by Stephen Antonucci at October 15th, 2008 at 9:24 am