Metue.com

Business in Silicon Valley generally tends to be done quickly.   There’s a tendency to jump into things head first, even sometimes blindfolded.  It’s the nature of high tech and the entrepreneurial culture.

In Hollywood business tends to be done more slowly.  There’s lunch before dinner, coffee before dessert.  The process involves more relationship building.  It’s a tendency to move moderately. To make changes judiciously.  It’s a process of testing the waters, sticking a toe in, then a foot, before jumping ahead.  Major media, as the occasional joke goes, likes a lot of foreplay, it likes to date for a good while before getting intimate. 

Apple has been a patient suitor, and the rewards are starting to show. Yesterday, Apple  and MGM announced that films from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library, which includes the Rocky franchise and a wide range of generation spanning classics, will be available on iTunes.

The inclusion of MGM (which is owned by a consortium of investors including private equity firms, Sony of America and Comcast) will bring the number of movie titles available on iTunes to more than 500 since movies were first made available in September.  Now, Apple has Disney, Paramount, Lionsgateand MGM on board. 

In the Hollywood tradition of moving slowly, the released titles from all of the studios are something of a pilot program and not there release of all titles in their libraries, still, the growing list of partnerships is a positive step for Apple.  MGM alone has more than 4,000 film titles and more than 10,000 episodes of Television episodes in it’s archive.

Positive results from this first inclusion on iTunes will no doubt lead to the release of more titles later. The availability of titles now, and the trickling release of more over time, will unquestionably help iTunes grow and remain a market leader. The title library will also additionally strengthen Apples position for entering our living rooms (whether through products like Apple TV or things yet to be revealed.)