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HP and Apple Separate; Apple gets Custody

Kasracer writes "Yesterday, The Register reported that HP separated from Apple's iPod selling agreement. 'Doing its best to erase Carly Fiorina's mistakes, HP has culled an iPod reselling agreement in place with Apple since January of 2004.' It is unclear whether or not HP will create an mp3 player or partner with another computer to fill the void."

17 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. No wonder they split. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Out of the $1.2billion from iPod sales made by Apple, HP contributed $15million.

    That's not much in the scheme of things, and even less when you consider the size of most of HP's other markets.

  2. They have to wait until 2006 by IIDX · · Score: 5, Informative

    As far as I know, their contract stated that HP has to wait until 2006 before they can release their own MP3 player.

  3. Non-Competition agreement by moo083 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unlike what the article says, at least for a while (a year I think), HP cannot make its own MP3 player or sell another one, because of a Non-Competition agreement they made with Apple at the beginning of their iPod selling. I mean, it is possible that they decided this period of time without an MP3 player for sale was worth it for what they would do after, but who knows what will happen at that point.

  4. Re:Is it just me... by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 3, Informative

    That really isn't true anymore. There used to be separate Mac and PC models, the Mac used HFS+, The PC version used FAT32.

    FAT32 is the default file system for Apple iPod now, unless you reformat it. If you do have a Mac, reformatting it and putting Journaled HFS+ isn't that bad of an idea, though journaling itself isn't totally necessary.

  5. Not sure why that would matter. by rdunnell · · Score: 2, Informative

    All of the iPods HP ever sold were compatible with both platforms out of the box. I don't even think they sold the 3G ones, but I can't remember for sure. You have to use iTunes to set it up initially anyway and you can always reformat it to use the other platform later.

    I can see a salesperson saying something stupid like that. After all, mauve databases have the most RAM.

  6. I bought one... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I spent $50 ($349 vs $399) less than the going rate for my 40gb non-color ipod. They were not behind when I bought mine and it seems to be exactly the same except with a small hp logo on the back. It works fine with my mac, and sams club gave me a couple year warranty for it for $15... I don't see why they didn't sell more?

  7. HFS+ is the default file system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For an iPod out of the box. They are all HFS+, but if you install the PC software before connecting the iPod it will prompt you to restore it to be FAT32. If you connect the iPod before installing the software, things get all confused, the OS will prompt you to reformat it, and it'll cease to play music until you restore it.

    There used to be FAT32 iPods and HFS+ iPods from the factory, but not any more.

    iPods don't journal their HFS+. I'm honestly not quite sure what good journalling HFS+ is anyway, I've seen many friends have their drive go corrupt even with journalling on, and it does slow things down a skosh too.

  8. Um, almost a good point. by piecewise · · Score: 3, Informative

    Same price, same warranty, same everything, right? Didn't even have an HP logo on it

    Quick correction.......

    Same price, different warranty, different accessories, and yes, an HP logo. But nice try! Go work for CNN or Fox. ;-)

    --
    The next comment I write will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
  9. Re:Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Exactly how I feel. And the same goes with Dell too. They've got names like 3000, 4700, 5100, 5100c, 9100, XPS for their desktops and names like 2200, 6000, 6000a, 9300, XPS, 600m, and 700m for their laptops. WTF? They should simplify their lines too if they want to sell more computers... Oh, wait. Never mind.

  10. Re:Good. by Fear+the+Clam · · Score: 2, Informative

    Keep it simple and keep it non-goofy too, please. Mod me down if you want, but I'm willing to bet that Creative has lost at least one sale because someone didn't want to tell their friends that they bought a "MuVo Slim" or "Zen Touch."

  11. Re:Do you think... by Blondie-Wan · · Score: 2, Informative

    Not so. In 1998, they purchased $150 million worth of non-voting stock in Apple as part of a larger agreement between the two companies. They've since sold it, and don't currently own any substantial stock in Apple, I believe.

  12. Why does everyone misunderstand journaling? by Some+Random+Username · · Score: 5, Informative

    Journaling is 100% purely a way to repair the filesystem quicker than doing an fsck. It does not prevent any corruption on a drive ever, and it does not identify or correct problems when they occur. The journal is just a log, and instead of an fsck you replay the operations in the log file to ensure that every operation that was supposed to happen actually finished happening.

  13. Re:Good. by rreay · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'm sure at least part of it was distribution. HP had distribution channels that Apple didn't. For example, the iPods selling in RadioShack were the HP models. It worked for both of them, Apple got iPods in places they normally couldn't, and HP got to sell iPods to retailers without directly competing with Apple.

    Recently however RadioShack and Apple started working together. If Apple is undercutting HPs distribution by going straight to the retailers why should HP stay in this particular game.

  14. Re:Do you think... by Nugget · · Score: 4, Informative
    Only if "like some 40%" means "an insignificant amount"

    In 1997 Microsoft bought $150 million of special, non-voting Apple stock. $150 million bucks might sound like a lot of money, but remember that at the time Apple had over a billion dollars of cash on hand and a market cap in the 8 billion dollar range.

    Microsoft's holdings in Apple today don't even make the top ten institutional holders. You are completely wrong, in other words.

  15. Re:Do you think... by MrHanky · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, no, no! We'll call it ThePatrioticFuck's Law.

    It sounds so much better.

  16. Re:HP's "digital enterprise strategy" by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 2, Informative

    HP stoped making calculators? Maybe for 1 year.

    But look at this....

    http://www.hp.com/calculators/

    --

    Gorkman

  17. Re:WAL-MART by Chanc_Gorkon · · Score: 3, Informative

    Our Walmart now has a iPod section. For the moment, they have BOTH versions. HP and Apple iPods. Sure, Walmart already had a in with Walmart and Apple did not. I think part of this was so Apple could see how to get into Walmart. Either that, or Walmart went to Apple upon rumors of the HP stopping the deal and now that is why the APPLE iPod is now on the shelf at my local Walmart.

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    Gorkman