Why on Earth would I want to lend money to Google for six months?

[andrewducker]

Google just emailed me, telling me that I could order "The Force Awakens" on Google Play for £9.99. And that they would email me the moment they knew when it would be released.

Let's leave aside the stupidity of spending £10 to "own" something in a digital format that's dependent on someone else's servers, and can only be watched using software that they supply, and cannot be watched offline on laptop.

Instead let's focus on the fact that the majority of movies on Google Play are £3.49. And that there are _none_ that cost more than £9.99.

So I'm incredibly unlikely to be saving money by buying the movie now. Instead I am handing Google money now so that I can get access to a film that won't be out for six months, in exchange for an expected saving of...nothing.

I don't know what the marginal utility of a tenner is, over a six-month period. But it's not _nothing_. So I really can't imagine a single reason why I anyone would do this.

Am I missing something?

Comments

[redbird]

I would guess they are hoping to get money from people who are used to pre-ordering games or movies on DVD to be sure they get a copy when it reaches the stores. But that's from their end; I can't see anything you would gain by this either.

[matgb]

I have one movie via Google Play, I think it was a free offer, not sure (Sherlock Holmes, the Guy Ritchie one). But in this case it's available offline, I can download it and watch it whenever I want, not sure about DRM or similar.

So depending on what they're offering it might be watcheable in multiple formats, etc. Not sure I can be arsed to look though.

[rmc28]

Is it not like pre-ordering DVDs or ebooks, where the money doesn't get taken until the goods are dispatched? In the latter case, by a push to the device I chose plus a reminder email.

[andrewducker]

Aaah, it is.

So you're not doing anything other than setting up a payment for the day it comes out.

The win for Google being that you're more likely to spend the cash with them. The win for you being you don't have to remember that Star Wars is coming out on DVD. Or something.