My contention is that Jobs + Apple sell hardware. All their other products exist to drive that core business. Any additional profit deriving from the other products is just cream.
Is the MacOS sold separately? No. Why? Because Apple wants you to buy their hardware (Macs). Note, Apple goes to great lengths to ensure their OS runs only on their hardware but does not make any serious attempt to prevent users from installing (illegal) copies of their latest OS on old, or additional, or friends' Apple hardware. Further note, Microsoft does exactly the opposite.
Does Apple charge for iTunes? No. Why? Because Apple wants you to buy their hardware (iPods). Note, Apple does exactly nothing to stop you taking music from any source other than the iTunes Store (iTS) and sticking it into iTunes and your iPod. They don't even stop you using 3rd party music applications to fill your iPod.
The DRM issue is less clear to me. Does Apple DRM tracks from iTS? Yes. Why? Looking from a hardware perspective the 'Apple Only' DRM does lock people into Apple hardware which is a "Good Thing" for Apple.
However there is an alternative to that PoV. DRM as a whole is making online music purchasing highly unattractive and *reducing* the overall market for music consumption, and potential iPod purchasing. In Jobs' ideal universe everyone would buy all their media from iTS with DRM. Thereby giving Apple total media player domination. But even Jobs' is not megalomaniacal enough to realistically entertain that scenario, so he has to choose between a lock-in on a small market segment versus growing the entire market hugely and taking his slice. Given Apple's past success at dominating the music/media player market my guess is he'd prefer to expand the market.
I believe that Apple is of the opinion that removing DRM from digital media would boost their core business. Note, the next range of hardware that Apple want to sell is the complete integrated home entertainment package. They want *everyone* to buy it and they'd probably like to avoid any unnecessary complications.
All that said, I am not claiming Apple doesn't make money, even quite a lot of money, from its software and iTS operations. I'm just saying that it is not their "bread and butter" business, it is not central to their business model.
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One example. Shakers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers.
My contention is that Jobs + Apple sell hardware. All their other products exist to drive that core business. Any additional profit deriving from the other products is just cream.
Is the MacOS sold separately? No. Why? Because Apple wants you to buy their hardware (Macs). Note, Apple goes to great lengths to ensure their OS runs only on their hardware but does not make any serious attempt to prevent users from installing (illegal) copies of their latest OS on old, or additional, or friends' Apple hardware. Further note, Microsoft does exactly the opposite.
Does Apple charge for iTunes? No. Why? Because Apple wants you to buy their hardware (iPods). Note, Apple does exactly nothing to stop you taking music from any source other than the iTunes Store (iTS) and sticking it into iTunes and your iPod. They don't even stop you using 3rd party music applications to fill your iPod.
The DRM issue is less clear to me. Does Apple DRM tracks from iTS? Yes. Why? Looking from a hardware perspective the 'Apple Only' DRM does lock people into Apple hardware which is a "Good Thing" for Apple.
However there is an alternative to that PoV. DRM as a whole is making online music purchasing highly unattractive and *reducing* the overall market for music consumption, and potential iPod purchasing. In Jobs' ideal universe everyone would buy all their media from iTS with DRM. Thereby giving Apple total media player domination. But even Jobs' is not megalomaniacal enough to realistically entertain that scenario, so he has to choose between a lock-in on a small market segment versus growing the entire market hugely and taking his slice. Given Apple's past success at dominating the music/media player market my guess is he'd prefer to expand the market.
I believe that Apple is of the opinion that removing DRM from digital media would boost their core business. Note, the next range of hardware that Apple want to sell is the complete integrated home entertainment package. They want *everyone* to buy it and they'd probably like to avoid any unnecessary complications.
All that said, I am not claiming Apple doesn't make money, even quite a lot of money, from its software and iTS operations. I'm just saying that it is not their "bread and butter" business, it is not central to their business model.