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Archives => 2003 => Topic started by: sandbox on July 02, 2003, 10:03:56 PM

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: sandbox on July 02, 2003, 10:03:56 PM

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/con..._0512_tc056.htm

You ain't seen nothing yet. So far, Apple has largely sold iPods to Mac users, who represent a tiny portion of the market. Now, it's preparing to release, probably by yearend, a Windows version of both the iPod and its iTunes software for managing digital music

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: Paddy on July 02, 2003, 11:06:51 PM

Well, it certainly got that old Mac vs. PC debate all fired up again at MacCentral. Actually, it's been raging away ever since the G5 announcement - any excuse, including Haddad's article will do.

Personally, I take Haddad with a large bag of rock salt. He's not as bad as Dvorak, but that's not saying much.

I loved this guy's response to the trolls at MacCentral:

Please do not feed the troll

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: sandbox on July 03, 2003, 02:30:16 AM

Paddy, It’s good to know all the arguments, Haddad makes some good points from a business point of view. Growth is his business, he sees that growth in music, so do I, and Jobs seen it before both of us, a brilliant move on his part, and maybe, just maybe it will move the market, his department, where investors can recover some of their capital. Even if Apple wins at the drag strip the optimal software for the G5 will lag behind putting Apple and other software vendors in the catch-up bottle.

Apple tried with it’s iPod and Switch ads to change the numbers, it didn’t work, so now they will make a iPod to serve the masses over @ MS, there really is no other option, the people are entrenched for now and Apple has to move around the fringes. There is a real possibility that MS-iPod could see more early gross sales than all of the other hardware combined, or at least the business community is betting they will.  

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: Barticus on July 03, 2003, 01:34:26 PM

Sandbox;

I don't think the saviour of Apple is the iPod, in my opinion it was the iMac.  What the iPod may do for Apple is allow them to increase their market share a bit.  Speaking for myself, if half of what I've read about Steve Jobs is true the man is a first class jerk of a human being.  BUT (and this is a big but)......he's the right CEO at the helm for Apple, if they want to continue being successful.  He certainly seems to have the right vision for where Apple needs to go, and the guts to try new things.  How may 'i' items from other companies have shown up on the market since the iMac?

My 0.02 pfarthings worth.

B

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: Paddy on July 03, 2003, 04:25:48 PM

SB, I'm not doubting that the iPod for Windows will be successfull (as long as they hurry up - the market for these devices is not infinite, and the competition only increases). He just seems way over the top to me - that's all. I found the whole beginning of the article off-putting. More Apple-bashing fodder. I'm sick to death of reading articles that say "I love Macs, but...." It seems that it isn't possible to write an article that doesn't say at least a few very negative things about Apple without being branded a Mac-zealot. There seems to be no such requirement for those writing about the latest and greatest from IBM or Dull.

I did see an interesting post from someone in Australia that noted that one of the big Sydney papers had done an MP3 player comparison, and nowhere did they even mention the iPod. So, as I say, Apple's got a great idea, but they cannot sit around with it. They're going to have to get out there and market the little beast to death.

And I guess part of my reaction was also to the PC-trolls who lurk about and love to inflame things at MacCentral. Articles like Haddad's just keep feeding them.

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: CyberPet on July 03, 2003, 04:50:38 PM

Uhm, hang on a minute. iPod has been working for Windows since generation 2 (we're seeing 3rd generation now), so what's the difference???? Last I heard it was 50/50 Mac/PC versions of iPod sold totally since they started selling iPods for Windows.

I doubt iTunes will be the killer-app that will save Apple for sure.... if that's what this discussion is about.

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: sandbox on July 03, 2003, 11:46:08 PM

Barticus, iPod is the growth engine, the bonus as you were, in the pot. Bringing better software to the Wintel iPod so it operates like a Mac iPod is expected to generate high interest, =ing high sales. I’m not, by any means putting down Apple’s products, but reality has many faces, and the market profile is not a pretty one.

As for judging someone’s personality by the written opinion of others, I do my best to refrain, especially if I don’t know the writer, and or he doesn’t have to answer for his words. It’s a whole lot easier to write about someone then it is to look them in the eye and say what you will, I often wish that was the test!
(Politicians being the exception, they get paid for being a target.)

Paddy, writers write to their readers, if your readers are wiggit warmers then you say nice things about warm wiggits. On the other hand, business is a reflection of strategy and chance, Apple has one down pat, and is working hard to get the other.

Compare it to the Auto industry, the roads are built and paved, asking people to drive over and meadow and through the woods to grandma’s house is a big job. But, if you package the suggestion with a Cadillac Escalade, the invitation becomes more appealing.

Cyberpet, apparently, and I’m not speaking from experience here, the software for the Wintel iPod is wanting. The next generation, as you called it, promises to be more like the Mac version, and that is what has stimulate interest in the market fom what I've read.

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: Paddy on July 04, 2003, 07:20:05 AM

Apparently the big hang-up for Windows iPod users is the software - no true iTunes equivalent, and of course, no access to the Apple iTunes store. So, an iTunes for Windows and a big promotion to go with it may indeed win a significant number of customers over. However, they will be starting from an impression that the iPod isn't ideal for Windows (because of the software), an impression that they will have to work hard to correct.

One problem that they may have is competing on price point - the Creative Nomad Jukeboxes are cheaper for what they offer on the surface, and I noted that they have a much greater customer satisfaction rating at CNET - 92% thumbs up on the 20 GB model vs only 66% for the newest iPods - even the iPods for Macs!! I found this surprising.

And then I dug a little deeper.... Has anyone ever looked at the MATH on those CNET reviews? If you click on "only positive" and then on "only negative", add those two numbers together and then work the percentages, the darn things come out exactly even. 75% recommend on both the Creative Nomad and the iPod. I'd love to know HOW CNET comes up with their percentages!!! Their ratings submission form only requires a name or alias....so the opportunity for abuse is great. Maybe the numbers represent all those who didn't bother submitting comments too (they have a "users" figure that doesn't correlate with the number of reviews), but they don't explain this and I will therefore now completely disregard the stated percentages as essentially meaningless.
 

Title: How Apple Spells Future: i-P-O-D
Post by: Barticus on July 04, 2003, 02:05:22 PM

QUOTE(sandbox @ Jul 4 2003, 4:46 AM)

As for judging someone’s personality by the written opinion of others, I do my best to refrain, especially if I don’t know the writer, and or he doesn’t have to answer for his words. It’s a whole lot easier to write about someone then it is to look them in the eye and say what you will, I often wish that was the test!
(Politicians being the exception, they get paid for being a target.)

All too true, I guess I let the pessimistic side of me get the upper hand on that post.  


As for the iPod, we'll see.  I don't have any plans on getting one, or even a remotely similar product, but I wish Apple all the best.