Oh, Wal-Mart. We love your low prices, your imported-from-China everything, but when it comes to online movie purchases, it seems you misstepped. Your HP-powered online movie store that launchedin February was supposed to, as Peter Ha might say, “change the game.” Only it didn’t; the game is the same. For HP, the brains behind the operation pulled the plug on the underlying technology behind the store, leaving you without an engine for your game-changing-mobile.
The Wal-Mart online movie store is dead. My condolences, Wal-Mart.
It’s said that HP expected better sales from the store, so when that didn’t materialize, it packed up its things and went home.
All is not lost for you pay-for-online-video folks: rumors of an Apple-Fox deal that would allow users to rent movies from the iTunes store. Depending on the price—like, say, no more than $3—I’d be willing to try that out, so long as it’s not already on any one of my favorite BitTorrent trackers. Old habits die hard.
UPDATE Never mind that “rumor” qualifier, the deal is real and will be announced at MacWorld. Come on less than $3…
Wal-Mart cancels movie download service [Reuters/Yahoo! via MacRumors]