The Apple tablet and iTunes

In asking if you would use an Apple tablet, MuppetPants raised an interesting point:

The DVD/TV replacement would require downloading movies on iTunes as it couldn’t have a disc drive. Seems very limiting.

Seeing what Apple did with the Macbook Air and its USB CD/DVD drive, they’re going to be reluctant to put any kind of an optical drive in a device designed to be primarily portable. If they are setting out to revolutionize the visual media experience on a mobile platform than the primary way they’re going to it is through iTunes.

New movies cost $20 and $15 for HD and standard def, respectively, while rentals of new movies cost $5 and $4. I think it’s safe to assume that since then the primary mode of getting movies would be through iTunes (other an attachable drive like the Macbook Air uses), the device would not only have to be cheaper than anyone expects, it would have to have a substantial and traditional laptop harddrive packed inside. No solid-state drives for the tablet. That would drive the price through the roof.

If Apple wants tablet users to fill their devices mainly with content from iTunes, they’re going to rely more on money coming in from iTunes than money coming in from the tablet sales. It’s a somewhat unorthodox business model but it makes sense if you think about it: people won’t want to pay $800-$1000 and then drop $15-20 for movies either in physical or digital forms.