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HP To Start Selling Its iPod

Posted by timothy on from the it-isn't-even-blue dept.

Dozix007 writes "Uberhacker.Com is reporting that HP said Friday it will start selling its version of the iPod in September. HP's white iPod will be sold in a 20-gigabyte and 40-gigabyte version for $299 and $399 respectively. Apple's prices are the same. It is essentially a clone of the current design, with no real modification."

18 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. If it works..... by ericdano · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If it works, why change it? Hopefully prices will go down a little......

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    1. Re:If it works..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
      if "it" works

      What do you mean by "it"? HP's decision to stop all innovation and try to become a follower in everything they do by just cloning and reselling the products of others?

      This aproach may work for the cheap taiwanese knock-offs companies we're all familiar with, but I'd expect better from HP.

      These guys once had everything - the best CPUs (Alpha, PA RISC), and now they're an intel-clone-box-reseller. Solid operating systems (HPUX, VMS), and now they're just a microsoft reseller. The best search engine (DEC, now HP) could have been google.

      Seems their strategy now it to let everyone else do all the innovation, and just become a follower and hope to make money reselling other's designs (such as attempting to resell Linux and use SCO FUD to become the prefered vendor).

      HP... why don't you try hiring back some of those guys you fired and making some of your own advances again.

  2. if two businessmen come with the same idea by stroustrup · · Score: 4, Insightful

    one of them is useless.

    Why couldn't they have chosen a lower price?

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    If you lost your job today, don't despair. You may die tomorrow anyway.
  3. Why didn't they go with the HP blue by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought one of the reasons that HP was selling the iPod was so that they could sell it in "HP blue", which would have given at least 1 reason to buy it from them(I don't use HP products, so I could care less but)

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    Monstar L
  4. URL by jsm008us · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think this is the URL to it! http://h10049.www1.hp.com/music/us/en/ipod.html?mt xs=home-ent&mtxb=B2&mtxl=L1 It's exactly the same! At the time of this writing, though, you could not access shopping.hp.com! Can anyone correct me if I am wrong?

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  5. In case you're wondering why... by Sheetrock · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The real question is really why not.

    Before, HP didn't have anything like the iPos. Now it can flesh out its home electronics lineup a little bit. You know, sell it in a package with its own computers and tailor the advertising so people don't get too confused about mixing Apple hardware with PC hardware.

    They did the same sort of rebranding with CD burners, if I recall correctly.

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    Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
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  6. Re:Invent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    HP is tryiing to leverage it's print and media technology. They will have skins that can be printed to customize the ipods. I think 10 skins for $14.99 and sort of follows the cell phone market where you can buy various faceplates.

  7. Re:What's the point? by aflat362 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My guess is that HP is thinking that people will "throw in an HP iPod" when making an HP computer purchase.

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  8. Re:Please, explain... by LennyDotCom · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why would anyone choose the "iPod copy" if they can get "iPod original" from the "cool" Apple at the same cost?
    because believe it or not not everybody has heard of the iPod
    This will open the iPod to new markets

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    http://Lenny.com
  9. Dont beat up on HP..Its good for us.. by cOdEgUru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, its the same thing. No question.

    But think of it, HP will use resellers such as Staples, Officemax, Office Depot and other outlets which gives us a reason to use those 30$ off of 150$ coupons and other 10/20% Off coupons to buy these expensive players. For people who may balk at the 300$ price, cutting it down to 250$ sometimes is all the reason for them to spend the moolah. So repeat after me, its good for the consumers. who gives a flying fuck about whether HP had innovated or not?

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    Rapid Nirvana
  10. Re:Confusing to the End User by Biotech9 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not quite sure I see the point of this, besides throwing HP a bone in return for having iTunes pre-installed on their machines.

    You don't see the point? Then let me show you...

    HP is the second largest PC supplier in the US.Apple, is not. I can gaurantee you Apple will ship more ipods in the next 6 months with HPs platform to sell from than they have for the last year. HP has a market reach that is far in excess of Apples, and is an entirely different demograph. Apples target market of young fashion nerds with fat wallets already know about or have ipods, but HP can sell ipods to people that wouldn't be normally reading /. or apple.com.

    With this and Microsofts entrance into music sales, it'll be an interesting few months running up to Christmas.

  11. smart move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Many PC/Microsoft owners "think" anything from Apple needs to be used with an Apple to work.

    HP branding makes it a more comfortable purchase, and Apple need not print "Works with Microsoft XP(tm)!" all over their boxes.

    "Gee, that HP printer said 'XP Compatible' on the box, and it sorta works, so this should, too!"

  12. Not Just A Clone.... by DeusOTdeuS · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is Apple's attempt to capture even more of the MP3 player FOR PC market. The problem with the iPod as is, is that it is designed for the Mac first then slightly modified for the PC. I for one never bought an iPod because it has to run through shit software to manage your songs, software that at its best was flaky. MP3 Players that are originally designed for the PC are made to for the most part be like external hard drive, just drag and drop files, no 3rd party software to use. The HP iPod will use only USB 2.0 not firewire (one more thing that PC users dont always have) and will work with HP's software, not jukebox. HP's software will make it more PC friendly and more like the interaction between PC and MP3 player that other "for PC" MP3 players have. Not only all that but many people that aren't tech savvy dont know that the iPod works for PC. And even if they do, they get told by store employees that it doesn't work well with a PC. Having HP's name on it will make it more recognizable as a "for PC" product, and stop people from saying "I would like a iPod, but I dont have a Mac." Now they can see from just the name that it will work with their PC. Its nothing really that new, but it will allow Apple to sell their iPods to people that require PC name recognition.

  13. Re:What's the point? by NeoSkandranon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I agree.

    However, I have trouble thinking people who are going for a 500 dollar computer are going to "throw in" a 300 dollar MP3 player on the side (for whatever reason--financial or otherwise)

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  14. HP worse than you think on this... by hirschma · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Compaq _invented_ the hard drive MP3 player. They had their first prototypes in 1997-8, I think. Their marketing folks decided that no one would want one, and they licensed the design off to a Korean company in 1999. You can read about it here and here.

    I got mine in early 1999, unit #4. It still does things that the iPod doesn't do, like gapless MP3 playback. It has a superior interface, battery life and sound quality. A shrunken version with an attractive design would have kicked ass.

    At any rate, HP bought Compaq, which means that they actually own patents covering almost every aspect of the iPod.

    So what does the New HP do? They license the iPod from Apple. Yup, pay Apple for the IP that they own. I'm guessing that the clever MBAs running the company never decided to do a simple patent search.

    Thus, HP wins the Dumbest Big Company Ever award. HP's stupidity regarding this matter has been confirmed to me by former employees who will remain nameless.

    Jonathan

    1. Re:HP worse than you think on this... by znu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think you really understand why Apple sells so many iPods. It's not because it's the best music player in the world, although when all factors are considered it might be. It's because Apple has managed to build an extremely valuable brand. People don't want a music players with the capabilities of the iPod. They want iPods. They want to be seen walking around with those little white earbuds -- which, incidentally, might be part of the reason HP decided to ditch the HP-branded blue iPods we saw when this deal was announced.

      Then there's the iTunes Music Store. Could HP duplicate the technology behind that? Sure. Could HP make the same deals that Apple has with record labels? Maybe, maybe not. HP hasn't got Steve Jobs to capture record company execs under a Reality Distortion Field, and HP hasn't got nearly as much credibility as Apple in the music industry, because it isn't HP's computers that are sitting on the desks of most professional musicians. Even if HP could negotiate deals to get as much content as Apple has managed to get under similar licensing terms, it would probably take many months. And a lot of independent labels would probably just ignore them, because, again, they just haven't got Apple's image.

      All in all, it's really pretty easy to see why HP would rather resell the iPod (presumably on very favorable terms, in exchange for bundling iTunes) than compete with it. Just think of how many 'iPod killers' have come and gone without putting a dent in the iPod's meteoric rise.

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  15. Re:What's the point? by Bricklets · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To this day, do you know how many people have come up to me and inquired about the iPod I'm listening to only to then ask, "But's it's made by Apple right? Does it work on my PC?"

    These are the people HP is hoping will buy *their* iPod.

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    Little Bricklets
  16. Re:Blow it out your ass, you smug fuck!! by faaaz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You're being pretty subjective there. Then again, you're modded funny.

    I am a Mac user. I recently bought av iRiver. Why not an iPod? Because I weighed them against each other and decided the iRiver was the better choice because of the following.

    - The iRiver supports Ogg Vorbis.
    - The iRiver has better battery life.
    - The iRiver _can_ play directly from the file system.

    You're telling me in your post that these are "generally useless" features. To me they are not. That's why I didn't buy an iPod.

    "No its not simple, its a god damn pain in the ass to use regular file system transfers."

    To you maybe. To me it's the other way around. You're writing like it's fact, when it really is preference.

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