As Apple and Fox announced a new deal to distribute the studio's movies as rentals via iTunes, retail giant Wal-Mart abandoned selling downloadable movies, according to various published reports.

Wal-Mart confirmed yesterday that it had discontinued its movie download service, which was powered by HP technology. HP decided to ditch its technology after analyzing disappointing sales figures, forcing Wal-Mart's hand. The international retailer previously pitched its DVD rental-by-mail service in 2005.

The Apple-Fox deal is for downloadable rentals only; Fox will not sell its movies through the iTunes store, as Disney does with its current titles and Lionsgate, paramount, and MGM do with older titles. An official announcement is expected at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco, which begins Jan. 14.

It is expected that Fox will have access to Apple's proprietary DRM technology, making it the only outside company with such access.

One challenge for the new service will be the lengthy download times for purchased movies. Will consumers be willing to wait as long to download a movie they're only renting?
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