In the early years of technology, it was the slow pace of innovation that prevented us from getting cool entertainment and content on our PCs and media devices. In the early 1980s, it simply wasn’t possible to stream high bandwidth video to your computer. Today, the problem is not innovation, but the fact that the ones with the stranglehold on the content want to get paid for it. So we haven’t been waiting all these years for technology to develop, but rather we’ve been waiting for the distribution channels to become secure and everyone on the chain of command to actually get paid. And unfortunately, the world of fast paced innovation hasn’t been able to make a dent in digital rights management (DRM).
So while it’s a milestone in negotiation for Wal-Mart (not Apple) that they’ve been able to land deals with six major studios for its online video store (Wal-Mart’s got 40% of the DVD sales market), it will not be a breakthrough in user adoption. Because what gets lost in all of the deals with the bigwigs is they think just by making content available, consumers will come running. That would be true if the user experience was equal to that of renting from your local video store, subscribing to Netflix, or simply purchasing a DVD. But it isn’t. It costs about the same, you have limited viewing, and you can’t transport the content by burning to a DVD. If there’s an alternative that’s easier from a cost and convenience aspect, consumers will always choose it.
While Wal-Mart sees this as a first step, the public will simply get turned off because the user experience is poor. Wal-Mart’s online video store only works on Windows PCs through Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows Media-powered portable media players.
Users see through this behavior as protecting assets rather than delivering a great customer experience. And they will develop an opinion of Wal-Mart’s online store now even if they are able to some day achieve a quality customer experience. When Apple launched its online store it was focused on customer experience, not DRM. That’s why users have a personal warm feeling towards Apple. Many users don’t even know that iTunes has DRM built-in. It’s well hidden that you wouldn’t know or care if you’re a casual user. If you’re a thief making millions of copies, you’ll soon find out.
