Sandy McMurray is a long-time technology journalist whose work has appeared in Time, the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Sun, Report on Business, Profit, and other sources. Between 1995 - 2002, Sandy wrote a weekly column about technology for the Toronto Sun, and served as Technology Editor for five Sun Media newspapers. He has been publishing on the Web since 1996. Contact:readme@mac.com
The new NBC lineup on iTunes includes some interesting price flexibility. Although most of the full-length episodes sell for $1.99 each -- just like the Disney/ABC shows -- there are some exceptions.
The award for highest price goes to Conan O'Brien, for the two hour-long specials that sell for $9.99 each: the 10th Anniversary Special and The Best of Triumph the Insult Dog.
(If something is already available on DVD, shouldn't the lower quality iTunes video version cost less? But I digress...)
First season episodes of Battlestar Gallactica are $1.99 each, but episodes from the current season are available for $15.99 as an "album" (hey, it's still the iTunes Music Store). That's nearly $4 per episode. (Update: My mistake. The $15.99 price was for the four episode BG mini-series, not for the current season, which sells for $1.99 per episode.)
Finally, consider the Tonight Show clips, which are priced at $1.99 but last about six minutes each. The Pixar short films look like an incredible deal next to the best of Jay Walking.
(Then again, that's the same price as the music videos, so I guess value is in the eye of the downloader.)
I guess we'll soon know which product is hot and which is overpriced. At least, Apple will know -- they'll be able to count the downloads and recommend pricing sweet spots to NBC, ABC and future partners.
Apple says it will prepay $1.25 billion USD over three months to secure a reliable supply of flash memory from five suppliers: Hynix, Intel, Micron, Samsung Electronics and Toshiba.
“We want to be able to produce as many of our wildly popular iPods as the market demands,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.
This is a neat move. This not only guarantees Apple access to the flash memory needed for future iPods, but also provides a potential headache for competitors that need to buy flash memory in quantity for their own MP3 players. (Has any company every prepaid this much for electronic components?)
Meanwhile, Intel and Micron announced the formation of a new company to manufacture flash memory, with an initial investment of $1.2 billion each.
Has the success of the iPod given Apple too much control of the music business? I'm not sure how many consumers feel that way, but it certainly seems to be a problem for the recording industry.
Who will rescue the record labels? This article from Business 2.0 says we should keep an eye on Navio, a company "that wants to help shift the balance of power back to the media companies."
Imagine if you went to a music site to buy a single download for 99 cents, but instead you were offered the option to purchase the perpetual right to that song. With this right, you could download the song to your PC, your iPod, or your cell phone in whatever format was appropriate. And if you got a new computer, or if the digital-rights-management software protecting the file changed one day, you wouldn’t need to buy the song again. Your rights to the song would be stored online. Pay once, and it would be yours forever. If you lost it, you’d just download it again. Or you could share the song with a friend, or even resell it, depending on what rights you bought.
I would be delighted to get more rights with my purchase, but not if I have to buy a "bundle" with unwanted stuff (e.g. ringtones) to get it.
I'm skeptical of the article's claim that Navio-protected content will soon work with the iPod. Anything you can reverse-engineer, Apple can "fix" later with an iTunes or iPod update.
Finally, the idea that power should shift back to the labels strikes me as bizarre. Can we shift a bit more power to the artists and their audience please?
Sunday night's special live episode of The West Wing on NBC was produced twice -- once for the east coast and again for the west coast. Each version was slightly different. I watched both versions -- I wanted to see how much of the episode was scripted, and if any changes would be made to the second broadcast after the east coast version went to air.
I wasn't the only one. A surprising number of the fans on Television Without Pity admitted to watching both east and west coast versions of the live debate.
That got me thinking about iTunes and video sales and The Long Tail of television.
Here's some new ammunition for those who think Apple's move to Intel processors is about building computers that can run both Mac and Windows applications.
Apple's U.S. patent application 0050246554 ("System and method for creating tamper-resistant code") describes scenarios in which the user would choose a "first operating system" and a "second operating system" from a set that includes Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.
There's also mention of a virtual machine, and the option to choose between "Macintosh computer" and "Windows PC."
The Windows Live demo page is designed to work with the Windows version of Internet Explorer. The site is smart enough to detect the Windows version of Firefox, and it promises that Windows Live will support Firefox.
Where does this leave Mac users? We can't use Internet Explorer. Although there is a version of IE for OS X, it's no longer supported by Microsoft. (It was abandoned after Apple introduced Safari.)
The launch version of the Windows Live page does not load properly in Safari. It appears to be correct in the Mac version of Firefox, but I don't have a Windows box handy to test and see what's actually supposed to appear. The code of the page explicitly tests for Internet Explorer, so I doubt any other browser is seeing what the page makers intended.
Therefore, Windows Live (and Microsoft Office Live) may be designed to keep people using Microsoft's browser rather than its competitors. Obviously, that's not their primary purpose (and Microsoft will probably provide support for some browsers other than IE, if only to comply with its U.S. anti-trust settlement).
The problem for Apple will be the compatibility (or lack thereof) between Safari and these new Microsoft services. If Windows Live or Microsoft Office Live are useful and functional for Mac users, they will need a browser that works. If Safari won't cut it, they may switch to something else. If Apple's Internet strategy is to drive its customers to Safari rather than allowing them to use a product provided by a competitor, any Web services that require a different browser are bad for business.
The coverage I've read has focused on Microsoft's competition with Google and Yahoo, but this is much more than a grab for online advertising revenue.
Way back in 1995, MSN and Internet Explorer represented two competing strategies for Microsoft. The MSN plan was a closed online service, a la AOL and CompuServe (the dominant players at the time). The other plan was to harness the wild Web using a browser: Internet Explorer.
Ten years on, neither strategy has achieved what Microsoft wanted: monthly revenue, millions of subscribers, and a database of credit card numbers. Surprisingly, the winning strategy came from an unexpected place: the Xbox.
While everyone was watching Windows and Office, Microsoft attracted two million subscribers to Xbox Live. That's not just two million gamers. It's two million user IDs, two million credit card numbers, and two million instant messenger users with buddy lists. It's two million consumers for product demos, promotions, and advertising.
The Windows Live strategy looks like the Xbox 360 strategy for Xbox Live: there will be a free level of service and a premium level of service. At the basic level, you get a user ID and basic services; at the premium level, you get more, and Microsoft gets you.
Go to ideas.live.com to see where this is headed in 2006. The instant message demo is more impressive than the personal page aspect of the site, but it's interesting to see RSS feeds built into the custom page (a la Google's custom page service).
For the third time in two months, Apple will host a special invitation-only media event today to announce new products. The rumor sites predict new professional hardware and software, including new Power Macs, new pro photo software, and possibly new PowerBooks as well. We'll see.
The run-up to the annual holiday season is always packed with new product announcements, and it's easy for your media message to get lost. So far, Apple has successfully held the spotlight by keeping its products secret until launch day, and by announcing new products at well-timed, high-profile "events." It's like shock and awe for tech journalists.
If the goal is to keep Apple and its products in the public eye for as long as possible, and to build momentum coming into the holiday season, I'd say it's working.
Signal vs. Noise (37 Signals) notes the branding problem presented by adding video sales to the iTunes Music Store.
Although iPod and iTunes are officially "music first" according to Apple, the iTunes Music Store has become Apple's main distribution channel for music and video sales, plus audio books, movie trailers, podcasts, and video casts.
If a new name is needed, what's the best candidate?
"Apple Store" is already taken (both online and retail). "iPod Store" isn't quite right, because it implies the sale of hardware, not media. And "Apple Media Store" is about a clunky as anything I can imagine.
One more thing turned out to be Apple's deal with Disney to sell ABC and Disney Channel programs for $1.99 each.
Why did the event invitation use a picture of red velvet curtains?
I think Tao of Mac was the first to describe Apple's big announcement as "the end of TV as we know it." If the post-announcement buzz is any indication, the deal was a big surprise to almost everyone, including the producers of the ABC shows now on sale via iTunes.
For TV affiliates, Apple's new offering "is really bad," says Josh Bernoff, an analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. "You don't get anything. You just get a smaller audience," he says.
Apple's little experiment is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It won't change the entire industry overnight.
But if enough viewers switch to downloads -- and they will, eventually -- it's curtains for the current television distribution system.
"The iPod nano is small. You just won't believe how precisely, minutely, mind-bogglingly small it is. I mean, you may think the iPod mini was small, but that's just peanuts compared to the nano. Listen..." And so on.
(with apologies to the late Douglas Adams)
Small has value. The amazing success of the iPod mini showed that people are willing to pay for portability and style. The iPod nano has both of those, in spades.
But small costs money. The full-size 20 GB iPod, which costs just $50 more than the iPod nano, has five times the storage capacity. And it can connect to a TV to display photos -- something the nano can't do.
iPod nano Pros:
- tiny size and weight
- color screen for photos and album art
- new features (clocks, stopwatch, screen lock)
- compatible with 30-pin dock connector (and related accessories)
- holds the line on price at $199 and $249
iPod nano Cons:
- less storage space than iPod mini
(2 GB / 4 GB nano vs. 4 GB / 6 GB mini)
- no video out for photo display on TV
- um, maybe impossibly small = easy to lose?
If you want an iPod that does double duty as a hard drive, or you want all the photo features, move on up to the 20 GB or 60 iPod.
Otherwise -- in the words of pretty much every review I've seen so far -- the iPod nano looks like a slam-dunk.
Rumor: Apple's plan to move to Intel chips may be in trouble.
Anatomy of a rumor:
1. Apple announces move to Intel microprocessors.
2. Timeline announced for transition to Intel: "by end of 2007."
3. Apple SEC filing shows purchase agreement with Freescale.
4. Agreement permits Apple to order non-Intel processors until December 31, 2008.
5. Conclusion-related leaping begins.
Less-than-exciting reality behind the rumor:
1. Macs on sale today use non-Intel microprocessors.
2. Three year warranty is available on new Macs.
3. Replacement parts may be needed three years from now.
I'm discouraged by the fact that Matt Henderson's backup strategy is linked all over the place on Mac sites this week. I'm not knocking Matt's plan - it's fine, except that it requires a pretty high level of technical setup skill.
My informal lazyweb wish for Backups for the rest of us was one part Tiger feature suggestion, one part shout-out to anyone who has a cheap and simple backup strategy for Mac OS X. (Anyone?)
I doubt that many people will use Matt's solution without Matt's help. It's not that it's a bad solution. It's just too complicated. You would have to be very frustrated or really motivated (i.e. recently suffered a hard drive crash) to work though the steps he's taken.
There has to be a better way. We need something easier and more idiot-proof.
The latest iBooks have several new features that used to be available only in the PowerBook line. The Scrolling Trackpad and the Sudden Motion Sensor that were added to PowerBooks earlier this year are now standard equipment on iBooks, along with built-in Airport (Wi-Fi) and Bluetooth wireless. So why buy a PowerBook?
The new and improved 14" iBook G4 costs $200 less than the entry-level 12" PowerBook, but it has a bigger screen and a better optical drive (SuperDrive vs Combo). For consumers who are used to evaluating computers based on easily measured metrics like processor speed and screen size, this is a bit confusing.
Why buy the 12" PowerBook when the 14" iBook G4 appears to be a better deal? The answer is in the little things: video memory, bus speed, faster hard drive and more A/V input/output options.
The new .Mac Sync feature in OS X "Tiger" makes it easy to keep two or more computers in sync with each other. Mail messages, Address Book entries, Safari bookmarks and other important settings are synchronized with .Mac servers, so your home and work computers (for example) can share the same up-to-date information at all times.
During my recent IT support contract, I relied on this feature to keep my office and home in sync. I also made frequent use of the iDisk feature of .Mac to share files between locations.
.Mac Sync in Tiger is better than iSync in at least two ways:
1. It has more options to sync data from Apple-built applications.
2. Sync services can be used by other Mac software developers.
The second point is a big deal. I already use .Mac Sync to synchronize RSS subscriptions in NetNewsWire and FTP favorites in Transmit. It's a powerful tool that's going to become more useful as more developers adopt it.
The catch, of course, is that .Mac Sync requires a .Mac subscription, which costs US$99 per year (US$179 per year for the Family Pack).
I think it's safe to assume that Apple's goals for .Mac include user loyalty (or "lock-in") as well as long-term annual revenue. To make this work, the service should continue to improve and offer value for the annual subscription fee.
How can .Mac be improved? I think backups are the key.
I recently began doing some contract work for a large Canadian publishing company. Over the next few months, our small Mac support team will move hundreds of employees from old OS 9 machines to new Macs running OS X.
Everything is shiny and new... except the publishing software. After months of planning and research, the corporation decided to stick with the Classic version of QuarkXPress 4.
Why? Because Quark 4 may be terrible and out of date, but -- like the old joke about democracy being the worst form of government "except all the others" -- the alternatives to Quark 4 are worse.
Scott Rosenberg has a nice little rant about "iPod fascism" in his blog on Salon.
"As far as I can tell -- and I freely admit that I'm no OSX expert, so if I'm wrong, correct me! -- there is no simple way to get that music off her iPod and onto her Mac."
If you use the iPod as a hard drive, without using iTunes, it's no problem to move music from one computer to another. However, if you try to copy the iPod's music library (created by iTunes), it doesn't work.
The root of Scott's problem is not the iPod. It's DRM. And the root of the that problem is a fundamental disagreement over what rights consumers obtain when we pay for music.
In The Rumor Game, John Gruber explains how Apple can be hurt when rumor sites publish information provided by "reliable sources."
The “it’s too expensive!” peanut gallery reaction when the Mini debuted last year was partly fueled by the low-cost expectations set by Think Secret’s rumor. I’ve been thinking the same thing could happen again — what if Apple’s plan for next week is to release a cool new “headless” Mac with decent specs, but at a price of, say, $699 or $799? If it had remained a secret, it might have been hailed immediately as a terrific new low-cost Mac. Or what if it is G5-based, but costs $999? If Apple unveils something at those prices Tuesday, the immediate reaction will be that it was “supposed” to have cost $499.
One year ago, the Web was buzzing with rumors that Apple planned to introduce a $99 iPod at Macworld in San Francisco. The rumor spread to mainstream press, where it was reported as fact. Pretty soon, everyone was expecting a $99 iPod to debut at Macworld.
What they got instead was the iPod mini, with its $249 price tag. The backlash was swift and terrible. Critics said the iPod mini was overpriced. Why would anyone buy it when the regular iPod cost just $50 more? Who would buy an iPod mini instead of a cheaper, flash-based player?
This week, the Web is buzzing about the rumor that Apple plans to introduce an inexpensive headless iMac (i.e. CPU sold without monitor). What began as a rumor is now being reported as fact in the mainstream media.
I have no inside information, but I would bet money against the introduction of a $499 headless Mac, for reasons I've outlined before.
Apple's brand is built on innnovative, premium products. Entering the bargain PC market would be a major change in strategy.
I introduced Mac OS X to a Windows 98 user two weeks ago. Her old computer needed to be replaced, and she asked me for advice.
A lot has changed since she bought her last PC. We discussed her basic needs (e-mail, word processing, Web browsing), the difference between Bluetooth and WiFi wireless, and the reasons you might want to have USB 2 and Firewire on a new computer.
After noting the difference between "integrated video" and a real video card, I finally asked The Question. Would she consider buying an eMac rather than a Dell or a locally built Beige Box Special? She was already planning to learn a new operating system (Windows XP). Why not try a Mac?
The discussion was interesting. She admitted that she knew very little about the Mac, but she thought she knew three facts:
1. Macs are more expensive than PCs.
2. Macs are incompatible with Windows.
3. It's difficult to switch to Mac.
In spite of marketing efforts like the Switch campaign, these "facts" seem to be well established in the mind of the average computer user.
I think the genius of the current iPod ad campaign is its emphasis on the white wires.
I saw a man on the subway today listening to music. I couldn't see the music player, but there were white wires leading down from his ears to his hand. I assumed it was an iPod, but as I got closer, I could see that the half-concealed device was a Creative MuVo music player. It was white. You would have to know the difference between an iPod and a MuVo not to assume he's using an iPod.
There are many better earphones than the white buds that ship with every new iPod. Nevertheless, the white buds have become part of the brand. They're fashionable, and they're everywhere, even on non-Apple players.
The clever ad campaign that focuses on those white wires makes people see iPods everywhere, even when they're not there.
Note to Self after reading the comments and e-mail responses to Why no video iPod?:
1. Movable Type has a "Save as Draft" button for a reason.
2. When preoccupied by imminent release of Halo 2, see #1.
Why no video? That's the question everyone has been asking since Apple introduced the iPod Photo.
Critics charge that Steve Jobs has missed the boat this time; he's wrong, wrong, wrong about handheld video players -- perhaps even deliberately misleading the public "because of his ties to the movie industry."
I don't think he's wrong. I think he's right. Jobs is hanging back while Microsoft leads its hardware partners over a cliff.
The power of the RIAA and its members has always lain in money and marketing. The big record companies were able to pay large advances to top acts, and their marketing organizations were able to make small bands into bigger bands by aggressively promoting them and supporting tours.
[iTunes Affiliates] is the end of the RIAA and the big recording industry. Apple in the last year has signed deals with more than 300 independent record labels, most of them not big enough to do much promotion. But now they don't have to because that promotion will be handled by mtv.com and every music web logger, now that they have a material incentive to make recommendations and print lists. If I recommend a song -- IF I JUST TYPE A FEW WORDS -- and a thousand people decide to download based on my recommendation, heck, I just made $50 bucks. This is like sending tens of thousands of record sales people out on the road except that they can sell anything THEY like -- any of the one million iTunes songs -- making them salespeople with real conviction and maybe even with good taste. Maybe.
The RIAA will love the added revenue from this program until it becomes clear that they've been supplanted, at which point, it will no longer matter.
At the end of this interview with Bill Gates, there's a question about Microsoft's music business. The answer is interesting. Apparently, MSN Music is about building relationships with a "critical mass" of consumers in order to be a player in future e-commerce of all kinds.
We wouldn't do any one isolated category of sort of online digital buying by itself, because we believe in having essentially a digital payment system at critical mass that works in all the countries. We're investing in the platform to do that, and at some point, we'll apply that to things like music, and so it's part of a broader strategy.
The MSN Music Store may be less about more music and more about promoting the .Net Passport as well as future versions of Microsoft Wallet.
(Off the top of my head, I think there's more money in music than in avatars or "the right to send SMS messages," but I guess that's why he gets the big bucks.)
Rant of the day: much of the rah-rah coverage of Real's Free-the-iPod campaign has accused Apple of using a "proprietary" file format in iTunes.
Many writers covering this story seem to be unaware of two important facts:
Apple's major competitors all use proprietary file formats to copy-protect the songs they sell online.
The iPod and iTunes also support other file formats, including MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 Variable Bit Rate, AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), WAV, AIFF, Audible, and a new format called Apple Lossless audio (similar to FLAC). Apple does not support Windows Media files.
Here's another reason Apple should not drop prices to compete directly with cheaper Windows-based computers: the general trend towards the PC as a commodity.
Windows-based PCs already have many of the typical traits of a commodity. To the average consumer, most home computers are indistinguishable from each other based on their features. This is a problem. If consumers base their purchase decisions on price, you must drop prices (and drop margins) to keep up.
This article predicts bad times ahead for PC makers who do not escape the commodity trap. The author highlights the stiff competition Dell already faces in Asia from less expensive mass-market PCs.
What's the solution? To escape or avoid this trap, you must change perceptions. If a $199 beige box is perceived as a viable alternative to your company's $999 (or $1,999) offering, you're cooked.
Most of the tech writers and analysts calling for Apple to license its FairPlayDRM seem to have forgotten about Apple's strategic alliance with HP -- perhaps because we haven't heard much about it recently.
I'm told HP's version of the iPod, which was expected "this summer" is coming to the U.S. in September. (The worldwide launch date isn't set, and will probably depend on U.S. demand.)
This simple fact undermines some of the charges leveled against Apple by Real's Rob Glaser and others. FairPlay is available to business partners selected by Apple; just not to RealNetworks.
RealNetworks describes its new software that "unlocks" the iPod:
Before RealPlayer with Harmony, consumers buying digital music were forced to buy music that only worked on a particular brand of portable device, meaning that they could easily get "locked in" to that device, often without even knowing it.
Real's amazing claim is that iPod users are trapped because they can't download music that's locked with copy protection schemes other than Apple's own. Trapped!
Meanwhile, Real's "solution" -- RealPlayer with Harmony -- is itself a software lock-in. (It's hypocrisy and chutzpah in one tidy package!)
Once you switch from iTunes, you can't go back or you risk losing access to all the music you buy from the Real music store to an iPod software update. Meanwhile, you can't put music purchases from the iTunes store on your iPod, because it's no longer safe to use iTunes, in case Apple tries to update the iPod to block the RealPlayer hack.
Another "wow" moment from the WWDC keynote: Jobs shows that the System Preferences (control panel) in OS X Tiger knows that "wallpaper" means "desktop picture" and "WiFi" or "802.11" is the same as "Airport," and it highlights the proper Preference Pane to select based on the user's search.
That's smart, but it will be even smarter if Tiger uses this approach system-wide for context-sensitive Help. Users don't really want a good knowledge base to consult when things go wrong -- they want the problem to be instantly diagnosed and fixed for them. The closer a Help system can get to that, the better.
poachv. To take or appropriate something unfairly or illegally.
After introducing new Cinema Displays at WWDC today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs turned to Tiger -- the next version of Mac OS X, which will ship in 2005.
Jobs focused on ten of the new features promised in Tiger. Surprisingly, the biggest reaction was negative, and came in response to a feature that's very similar to a popular Mac shareware app.
Greg Narain's thoughtful response to my post about Pocket Rendezvous misses one critical point: I was comparing portable Macs to other portable devices.
As for the "unique traits of portable devices" Greg mentions, I think they also apply to iBooks and PowerBooks.
John Dvorak wonders aloud if anyone else is as smart as he is. Why are Windows users reluctant to switch to Mac OS X or Linux? Dvorak says, "It's the games, stupid!"
If we ignore the facts for the moment -- like the number of Windows users who are turning to game consoles like the PS2, GameCube or Xbox rather than trying to stay current with expensive PC game hardware; or the fact that many consumers (and corporations, universities, scientists, governments, etc.) are abandoning Windows, mostly because of poor security and rising license fees -- there might be something to Dvorak's game theory.
It's obvious. The best feature of Windows has always been and continues to be Solitaire!
If Dvorak is right, Microsoft is in trouble. Game over.
Apple stock (APPL) closed Monday at $26.00, down 74 cents from Friday's close and $1.49 below the 52-week high established last week during heavy trading.
It's not clear why investors were crazy for Apple, but it probably had something to do with this article in USA Today and bullish comments from Merrill Lynch analyst Steve Milunovich. Oh, and the rumor that Sony would like to buy Apple.
Long-time Apple watchers have been down this road before, and it's still a bad idea -- for both companies.
This article on ExtremeTech argues that Apple will eventually be "Netscaped" by Microsoft because the Windows Media audio format (WMA) is superior to AAC, the audio format favored by Apple's iTunes store and the iPod music player.
Rather than rehash the WMA vs. AAC argument, I'd like to challenge some of the assumptions that keep coming up in articles about online music sales. I think it's important to consider three rather unpopular ideas:
1. Downloads are not the same as CD tracks.
2. Downloads are not for audiophiles.
3. Digital rights management is not optional.
In his latest column, Alex Salkever urges Apple to "cut off the head" of the flat panel iMac and release "a competitive, freestanding, entry-level computer."
[The iMac monitor is] a beautiful concept. I love the way it swivels, and I often vary the position and angle of the screen (really helps when doing yoga exercises on a mat on the other side of my desk). But the fast-changing world of flat-panel displays has left Apple behind.
Most of the arguments in favor of a headless iMac assume that Apple should introduce a less expensive computer to compete with low-end Wintel machines. But is this really a good idea?
GarageBand, Apple's new music creation software, makes it easy to make and mix multi-track audio recordings at home. The software combines pre-recorded audio loops and software instruments with an audio recorder that can capture audio input from real instruments like guitars and midi keyboards.
I've been playing with GarageBand for about a week now. Here are some early observations:
The Pepsi / iTunes Superbowl ad was posted on several Web sites today. As of this writing, you can view the ad here and here (and other places I'm sure).
The ad is supposed to promote Pepsi, iTunes, and the 100 million song giveaway that begins on Sunday, but the message is a bit confusing. The song says the music pirates "fought the law and the law won" but the real message seems to be, "We stole music, got away with it, and now we're famous!" Or maybe I'm just a grumpy old man.
If the ad's tone and style are any indication, Apple's agency had little or nothing to do with it. Fortunately, Apple controls the entire user experience once viewers log on to iTunes.com.
The Windows version of iTunes has tremendous strategic value for Apple. iTunes for Windows promotes the iPod, provides compatibility with AAC audio files, invites Windows users to buy from the iTunes Music Store, and installs the latest version of QuickTime.
But that's not all. As John Markoff notes in his latest column, iTunes for Windows also includes Rendezvous -- Apple's brand name for zero-configuration IP networking technology.
Some notes from the Q1 financial results conference call:
- portables (iBook and PowerBook) accounted for almost half of Q1 CPU sales
- non-CPU sales accounted for 37% of total revenue; 13% of total revenue from iPod alone
- direct sales (i.e. education, Apple retail, online store) accounted for 43% of total revenue
- record figures in Q1 largely due to good sales of iPods, PowerBooks, Panther
- Apple has been "more aggressive on pricing" of Power Mac G5 (than Power Mac G4)
- about 10 million Mac users are now using Panther
- about 10 million more can upgrade to Panther (i.e. have capable hardware)
The future?
- Apple has "no plans" to release a Windows version of any iLife program besides iTunes
- component prices (LCDs, hard drives, etc.) expected to be stable or trending down
- RAM supply expected to exceed demand
- 20% profit margin expected on iPod family in Q2 (iPod, minis and HPods)
- Apple knows iMac LCD is priced above market "sweet spot" of $1,000
- 2004 Apple retail stores to include big stores in San Francisco and Osaka (Japan)
For a few more notes from the earnings call, see Think Secret
When HP and Apple announced a deal to produce an HP-branded iPod, I expected their PR and marketing folks would distribute a product image -- something like the clumsy fake I've produced to go with this item.
That's because I assumed --incorrectly -- that the HP/Apple deal was made some time ago, but kept secret at Macworld so HP could announce it at CES.
Then I read John Markoff's piece in yesterday's New York Times, which states that the deal was completed "after an extensive bargaining session that ran long into Wednesday night."
The new 40 GB RCA Lyra Jukebox is a tiny digital music player that doubles as a hard drive. Like the 40 GB iPod, it can hold thousands of songs. The new Lyra also uses a USB 2.0 connector for quick file transfers, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
In this video interview, Dave Arland, VP of corporate communications for RCA, was asked why the updated 40 GB Lyra Jukebox is better than Apple's iPod. What did he say? We'll find out... right after this.
Friendly announcer's voice here: "TechRepublic. Real World. Real Time. Real IT." (Joke. Watch the video.)
When Steve Jobs announced that the new iPod mini will sell for $249, the Macworld audience got very quiet.
But in that moment, people weren't really thinking about the value of the device, or its chance in the marketplace. They were quietly saying goodbye to the imaginary $99 iPod that so many had hoped to see.
Strategically, GarageBand is very interesting. It appears to be a stripped-down version of Apple's Logic software (acquired in 2002 when Apple bought eMagic), yet Apple hasn't mentioned any connection. (That's probably a good thing. As names go, "GarageBand" is much better than "Logic Express" or Logic Lite Edition.")
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