• BusinessWeek, Friday, September 8, 2006 12 PM

After at least a year of development, Amazon launched its Amazon Unbox service yesterday. Unbox offers downloads of movies and TV shows, like the original "Star Trek," as well as digital movie rentals from most of the major studios. But due to the studio's demand for several viewing restrictions, at least one analyst says the service may not attract a wide audience. Unbox offers DVD-quality downloads, triple the video quality of the leading rivals, and a free downsized version for some Microsoft Windows-compatible portable devices. The videos can be viewed in as little as five minutes, while the rest of the movie continues to download. Unlike the other download services, Amazon also sells the packaged DVD if customers end up deciding they prefer physical media. The announcement comes days before the expected debut of Apple Computer's own video download service on Sept. 12. But analysts believe that Apple's offering could be limited to one studio, Disney--on whose board CEO Steve Jobs serves.

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