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Pocket PCs Masquerade as iPods
agwadude writes "Wired News has a story about a British software firm called StarBrite that is selling a virtual iPod that runs on Microsoft's PocketPC operating system. It mimics the iPod interface exactly, including the unique scroll wheel. It's a mere $20 but this seems right considering it's only software, and it only supports MP3. MacDailyNews has a shorter story."
I love the black version. That would be hot if you could change the color of the ipod screen and what not. They need to move to a color LCD version. That would be expensive but I think it would totally be worth it. I already pay a lot for an iPod why not trick it out?
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Long live reverse-engineering! Besides, apple wants to make money on the music, not the hardware. What harm could this be?
And the difference between this and this with this. Or simply this.
Do people really want to pay $20 purely to get a skin for their pocketPC, that has less functionality(only mp3's) than something they can download for free.
Ten years of legal battles with regards to GUI's (Apple vs Microsoft) and spreadsheets (1-2-3 vs Excel) would indicate not. Both companies brought lawsuits against the new kid on the block claiming look-and-feel were violated.
Both cases went on for years and were either settled out of court or just fizzled out IIRC.
Not trolling or anything, but to me, this just seems to prove (again) how well Apple has been doing things these past couple years. Would companies be trying to mimic their every move if Apple was on the wrong track?
I don't really like the fact that the software is a total rip-off of Apples UI design, and that it may (potentially?) reduce iPod sales (although probably to a minimal degree, if at all), but it does seem to very much re-inforce that consumers are generally extremely pleased with Apple's products, and the carefully thought out design that goes along with them.
Mikro$haft might get a Klew eventually, but probably not, and in the meantime, I'll rejoice in my Mac OS X bliss, and never look back. (Converted Mac user since July 2002)
java guy, tech blog...
Apple patented that stupid scroll wheel thingy. That alone should be enough to shut 'em down.
There wasnt a lot of fuss about it here, since software patents are only bad when folks other than the almighty Apple take them out.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
If anyone deserves to be able to patent the stuff they produce, it's Apple-- since other companies apparently cannot resist ripping off damned near everything Apple does.
For example, why is Dell's Digital Jukebox white, when just about every other product they make has a dark colored case? So they can fool some rubes into thinking they're buying an iPod, that's why!
And we're not talking about submarine patents here. Apple is using them the way they were meant to be used-- to defend the fruits of their labors for a period of time, against the makers of half-assed knockoffs.
One has to wonder... being that you can now get the 4Gb CF hard drives (i.e. MuVo 2, mini iPod), you can now stick one of these in a PocketPC, and get an "iPod" that can store 800 songs, has wireless internet access, is an address book and all that, plays movies (wmv's, divx), and PLAYS QUAKE!? now that would be kickin, and would be worth the extra cash you would shell out for the form factor of a real iPod.
Skill is successfully walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Intelligence is not trying. -- Anonymous
Um, the scroll wheel is a hardware patent.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
I have been using PocketMusic from PocketMind on my Samsung i700 PocketPC/Phone for a while, and it's amazing. I have zero iPod envy (I can't balance a budget, get e-mail, web surf, or make a call on an iPod, but I can play my Oggs on my PocketPC -- even to the extent of dagging them from my Linux box).
I mean this to take nothing away from the exquisitely designed, iPod, but I no longer have the desite to possess a single specialized device for every eFunction in my life. Sure, I sacrifice some sizzle sans iPod, some corporate penis-size sans blackberry, and some cuteness sans the postage stamp-sized phone du jour, but I love just having it *ALL* on my Samsung.
are pretending to be something that doesn't suck to use? It's bad enough business relies on the ass of an interface called MS Windows, now they want to foist it on me in palm and phone based devices? No thanks, Apple should make a PDA and put PocketPC and Palm OS out of thier respective miseries, although as phones evolve I would guess the whole standalone Palm thing is near death as is.
And the iRiver iHP-120 is the same price as the iPod. The iRiver has slightly more features whereas the iPod has great usability and design. That hardly makes the iPod "overpriced".
Ok, aping the iPod is one thing, but in using the HP logo, as seen in this screenshot, aren't they going too far - in fact 'asking for it'? Carly could be the 'woman scorned' here...
There have been many lawsuits (specifically involving Lotus Notes, I believe) over the "look and feel" of software. In the LN case, it involved spreadsheets. The courts ruled that merely copying the look and feel is *not* a violation of copyright law, unless actual code was, indeed, copied (as in cut & paste, etc.) Not sure how that fits into patents, though. -DB in 2004 (Bring on the donuts..)
The processor is not very powerful in the iPod. There is custom hardware included that does the mp3 decompression, as the processor is not even fast enough for that.