I guess Microsoft is afraid that Apple would snag that oh-so-yummy Longhorn interface. With a couple days 'til Tiger launches, Apple could put in a serious cram session to update the look. Cram Apple, cram!!!
It's all about riding the coat tails of an already popular product. Firefox has been in the news so much, why not capitalize on that popularity just to get your name out there? In a similar fashion, ponder the industry that the iPod has created. Anyone and everyone wants to have SOMETHING to do with the iPod. Let the iPod's popularity do the marketing for you. So...with Firefox in the spotlight now, they might as well take advantage of this "free marketing" while they can.
I think Apple is poised to make quite an entry into a PVR market in some capacity. I keep looking at Dashboard and think how simple it would be to control your TV, DVD player, iTunes, etc with that. Hm...imagine now training the Speech part of Tiger to work hand-in-hand with the Dashboard components. Oh sweet mother of all things holy...now you're controlling iTunes or your PVR (Mac Mini with Eye TV?) with your voice? Yum...yum I say.
""The Texas legislature has the opportunity to modernize telecom regulation and promote innovation to finally reach our goals for new technologies and enhanced consumer benefits.""
WTF? That's a pretty damn funny line if you ask me. Promoting innovation by stopping the spread of wireless? Yeahhh...I guess once they get this passed, they'll promote their next "innovation" by moving to a phone "system" of two soup cans and a string. They will of course charge twice what customers are paying now for the backwards phone infrastructure already in place.
I believe Microsoft already purchased the rights to use the pentagram exclusively on all their products from the Dark Forces. Why do you think they named their next OS "Longhorn"?
Re:Apple computer shipments are actually on the ri
on
Re-Imagining Apple
·
· Score: 1
"If the plan was to sell iPods to sell Macs, they why make iTunes available for the PC? My understanding was iTunes was given away to sell iPods - but the computer didn't figure into the equation at all."
That's a good queestion. Here's one of the more popular views on why they did what they did. Apple got tired of being labeled as dumbasses by targeting only their niche audiences. Remember when the iPod first came out...it was available only for Macs. They realized they could sell many more (and thus make a load more money) by making it compatible with PC users. Now we have the connectivity issue. The iPod integrates just great with iTunes so then they had to make iTunes for the PCs. While all this is going on, Steve Jobs was talking about the "digital hub". He wanted the Mac to be the centerpiece of the consumer-level digital experience (cameras, video cameras, mp3 players, etc). iTMS was not expected to make any money, but rather have the largest catalog to draw users to it. iTMS works with the iPod. Millions of PC users see the wonderful interface on the iPod and the great user experience with iTunes. It was also a great consumer awareness issue. Everyone now recognizes the Apple logo as the dominant player...
So...tie all this together and that's what you've got. Evidently Apple learned from their mistakes and went about selling more Macs based on the halo effect.
Apple computer shipments are actually on the rise
on
Re-Imagining Apple
·
· Score: 4, Informative
"If Apple actually sold computers again. Seriously, they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics companies and selling computers are becoming more and more of an afterthought."
Turning into a consumer electronics company? If you recall, way back when Steve introduced iTunes to the masses, his plan was to make people want the iPod, which would make people want Macs. His plan is working perfectly. While other PC companies are predicted to have slowdowns in units shipped, Apple is actually expected to sell MORE computers in the near future. Not only is Apple selling computers...they are selling MORE computers than before. Making a nice chunk of profit from the product that is helping the computer-base grow is simply gravy.
Sony backs it and the PS3 is a major influencer of such. I heard somewhere that the gaming industry is bigger than the movie industry. Hmmm...
Apple backs it. The same people that dump money into R&D. The same people that pretty much made Ethernet, USB, and FireWire standard issue on all computers nowadays. The same people that got WiFi to the masses (instead of just us geeks) with AirPort.
Dell backs it. C'mon, they're the big player in the PC industry.
HP (they're innovators now, trying to find a new face to the company that was once a PC company), Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Samsung are behind it. This, along with Sony, pretty much covers the consumer market.
Now we move onto the financial aspects. That's a lot of money in R&D pushing it, plus Blu-Ray (having $450 billion vs HD-DVD's meager $221 billion) has a little more "oomph".
I'd say the war is over unless some huge unexpected upheavel happens.
I wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking right now, with iChat tying in with AIM. I wonder if iChat users will end up getting a whole slew of weird AIM-based spams and such with it becoming much more open to the world.
For someone who watches roughly one hour of TV a WEEK (what's the average TV viewing for Americans now? Six hours a day?), I'm giddy as hell about this. Awwww yeah!!!!! Damn SciFi channel is going to have me planted in front of the TV again.
IF it happens, iPod stays and PDA is new
on
Apple Updates iPod
·
· Score: 1
The way I see it, Apple will ride the iPod wave and continue to make millions from the industry they basically created (look at all the iPod accessories now...). Why mess with something good?
HOWEVER, the iPod makes such a great testbed for Apple's efforts. "Hmm, how small can we make a nice color screen? Hmmm, how small can we make a big honkin' HD?" Maybe they're just testing this all out as they prepare to roll out a PDA. Except...this won't be just a PDA. It'll be a small Mac with a 60 gig hard drive, with some groovy input/output setup, and will completely wow the computing world yet again.
The pricing is genius, pure genius
on
Apple Updates iPod
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Genius I tell ya. How many people will will go "well hell, for just $50 more I can get the..." or kids adding $50 to the money their parents are putting down to get the next level up?
"Uh, you'll notice Apple is still around and doing better than ever."
Yes, Apple IS still around, and they're damn lucky they are. The first Apple, the Apple of the mid-80s era, had that "we have the rockinest computer and OS in the world. Nobody can beat us. Windows? Psssh, who cares." They went from having one of the most popular computer systems in the world to almost dying out, being described as "that beleagured company" almost daily.
The second Apple, the one we know today, is the Apple that doesn't scoff at all competition. The iPod for example...while not THE first mp3 player out there, it was still one of the first. Apple quickly gained 70% of the mp3 player market. Did they sit on their laurels and say "Psh, who cares about Zen and everyone else?" Hell no. They continued to improve on the iPod. They looked at what everyone else was doing. They acted and they reacted to the competition. Same with iTMS...
I agree...fear can be a killer. Don't let fear paralyze you, but don't get that "nobody can beat me" attitude and let a little bit of fear get inside you to pump up that adrenaline and give you that extra boost to win the race when you've got someone catching up to you.
Depending on how they deal with this, Netflix could be THE de facto standard of DVD rentals...or they could be the ones that started the industry and then died out as others perfect their idea. The part that concerns me is how " the company is not really afraid of Blockbuster, Wal-mart and Amazon moving into their markets...". That almost sounds like the Apple of old...thinking you have a superior product and not fearing your competition can kill. If they take their competition seriously and strive to maintain their market share while improving their service before the competitors have a chance to catch up...that's when being the pioneer can pay off.
There are a few reasons they could be trying this. One, they can deploy and control their own private network. This gives them more control over what kind of equipment they can use, how they use it, etc. Also, perhaps cell coverage blows in this area but setting up their WiFi network gives them full coverage. Also, with such network, they can also have their laptops or PDAs in the car to connect with the network and transmit valuable data (records, news flashes, etc) back and forth.
Love how this article comes on the heels of the Panera article talking about how they (Panera) are the largest provider of free WiFi service. Is this the beginning of a "free WiFi" war? Now that would be cool. Competition will only make things better for the mobile users in terms of "price" (if there will be such thing), availability, and most importantly...quality of service.
The thing I find fascinating is how FreeFi will run ads to help pay for their services. The Panera model doesn't rely on ads...it just provides the service to customers as an incentive to come in and buy sandwiches. I don't really see a need to include ads. In theory, it's a great revenue model...getting companies to sign up and pay to have their ads up and running, but how will it work in the real world? Will users revolt and try to block the ads? Or will anyone really give a flyin' F? Perhaps after a year FreeFi will realize they won't need to manage thousands of company ads from around the country and will provide the service for free with much less overhead to deal with. As stated earlier...the competition will bring some nice improvements to the WiFi environment.
Ah...thank you. Was a bit too busy at work to do my usual detective work. I too wouldn't be surprised if there was some invovlement with CMU Robotics. Thanks again.
I'm still trying to figure out if they're talking about the University of Pittsburgh, which has a rather well-known medical program, or Carnegie Mellon University (which would be a Pittsburgh University) which is world famous for its robotics program. Anyone? Bueller?
Actually, there are two ways this could work. There's what you mentioned (inside tech support, etc) and then there's the "we hire you, you manage everything". That's the model Panera uses actually. They don't have their own tech support. When their access points go down, they call the company that set up their WiFi and say "help me!", at which point the said WiFi company either walks a Panera employee through a few steps or they come out themselves to fix it. It's all part of the contract between the establishment (hotel, restaurant) and provider.
" any Freshman business student can explain to you the principle of "sunk costs": it doesn't matter how much you've already spent on something, if you can get a better return by throwing it out and replacing it, then you throw it out and replace it!"
It's a great theory...but do you know anyone that really adheres to such principles? Really? In theory, communism is a good plan too. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, I'm just saying that REAL human behavior does not often follow sound rules of logic.
Your reason number one was what I was saying...a new monetary and time investment not only in hardware/software but also in training. And you're exactly right with number two. "Hi boss...I screwed up and suggested crap. So, can I have a raise now?" Not gonna happen.
"Given their record in the security area, I don't know why anybody would buy from them.'"
Because people have already laid down monetary investments in buying MS operating systems and the PCs that go along with them. Most people have a hard time going "well, let's just get rid of all this PC hardware and all the MS-related software we bought for it and switch to something better". It's sad but true. There are better options out there, but once you lay down the money (and time), people don't want to throw it all out and lay out yet more cash and time and start all over.
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I guess Microsoft is afraid that Apple would snag that oh-so-yummy Longhorn interface. With a couple days 'til Tiger launches, Apple could put in a serious cram session to update the look. Cram Apple, cram!!!
It's all about riding the coat tails of an already popular product. Firefox has been in the news so much, why not capitalize on that popularity just to get your name out there? In a similar fashion, ponder the industry that the iPod has created. Anyone and everyone wants to have SOMETHING to do with the iPod. Let the iPod's popularity do the marketing for you. So...with Firefox in the spotlight now, they might as well take advantage of this "free marketing" while they can.
I think Apple is poised to make quite an entry into a PVR market in some capacity. I keep looking at Dashboard and think how simple it would be to control your TV, DVD player, iTunes, etc with that. Hm...imagine now training the Speech part of Tiger to work hand-in-hand with the Dashboard components. Oh sweet mother of all things holy...now you're controlling iTunes or your PVR (Mac Mini with Eye TV?) with your voice? Yum...yum I say.
""The Texas legislature has the opportunity to modernize telecom regulation and promote innovation to finally reach our goals for new technologies and enhanced consumer benefits.""
WTF? That's a pretty damn funny line if you ask me. Promoting innovation by stopping the spread of wireless? Yeahhh...I guess once they get this passed, they'll promote their next "innovation" by moving to a phone "system" of two soup cans and a string. They will of course charge twice what customers are paying now for the backwards phone infrastructure already in place.
I believe Microsoft already purchased the rights to use the pentagram exclusively on all their products from the Dark Forces. Why do you think they named their next OS "Longhorn"?
"If the plan was to sell iPods to sell Macs, they why make iTunes available for the PC? My understanding was iTunes was given away to sell iPods - but the computer didn't figure into the equation at all."
That's a good queestion. Here's one of the more popular views on why they did what they did. Apple got tired of being labeled as dumbasses by targeting only their niche audiences. Remember when the iPod first came out...it was available only for Macs. They realized they could sell many more (and thus make a load more money) by making it compatible with PC users. Now we have the connectivity issue. The iPod integrates just great with iTunes so then they had to make iTunes for the PCs. While all this is going on, Steve Jobs was talking about the "digital hub". He wanted the Mac to be the centerpiece of the consumer-level digital experience (cameras, video cameras, mp3 players, etc). iTMS was not expected to make any money, but rather have the largest catalog to draw users to it. iTMS works with the iPod. Millions of PC users see the wonderful interface on the iPod and the great user experience with iTunes. It was also a great consumer awareness issue. Everyone now recognizes the Apple logo as the dominant player...
So...tie all this together and that's what you've got. Evidently Apple learned from their mistakes and went about selling more Macs based on the halo effect.
"If Apple actually sold computers again. Seriously, they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics companies and selling computers are becoming more and more of an afterthought."
Turning into a consumer electronics company? If you recall, way back when Steve introduced iTunes to the masses, his plan was to make people want the iPod, which would make people want Macs. His plan is working perfectly. While other PC companies are predicted to have slowdowns in units shipped, Apple is actually expected to sell MORE computers in the near future. Not only is Apple selling computers...they are selling MORE computers than before. Making a nice chunk of profit from the product that is helping the computer-base grow is simply gravy.
Sony backs it and the PS3 is a major influencer of such. I heard somewhere that the gaming industry is bigger than the movie industry. Hmmm...
Apple backs it. The same people that dump money into R&D. The same people that pretty much made Ethernet, USB, and FireWire standard issue on all computers nowadays. The same people that got WiFi to the masses (instead of just us geeks) with AirPort.
Dell backs it. C'mon, they're the big player in the PC industry.
HP (they're innovators now, trying to find a new face to the company that was once a PC company), Hitachi, Panasonic, Pioneer, and Samsung are behind it. This, along with Sony, pretty much covers the consumer market.
Now we move onto the financial aspects. That's a lot of money in R&D pushing it, plus Blu-Ray (having $450 billion vs HD-DVD's meager $221 billion) has a little more "oomph".
I'd say the war is over unless some huge unexpected upheavel happens.
I wonder what Steve Jobs is thinking right now, with iChat tying in with AIM. I wonder if iChat users will end up getting a whole slew of weird AIM-based spams and such with it becoming much more open to the world.
I'd love to do that, but I'm only one guy with limited time. Guess I'll have to start off with Pong...
"Well, aren't you a fucking Renaissance Man."
Nah, I just don't have TiVo yet.
For someone who watches roughly one hour of TV a WEEK (what's the average TV viewing for Americans now? Six hours a day?), I'm giddy as hell about this. Awwww yeah!!!!! Damn SciFi channel is going to have me planted in front of the TV again.
The way I see it, Apple will ride the iPod wave and continue to make millions from the industry they basically created (look at all the iPod accessories now...). Why mess with something good?
HOWEVER, the iPod makes such a great testbed for Apple's efforts. "Hmm, how small can we make a nice color screen? Hmmm, how small can we make a big honkin' HD?" Maybe they're just testing this all out as they prepare to roll out a PDA. Except...this won't be just a PDA. It'll be a small Mac with a 60 gig hard drive, with some groovy input/output setup, and will completely wow the computing world yet again.
Genius I tell ya. How many people will will go "well hell, for just $50 more I can get the..." or kids adding $50 to the money their parents are putting down to get the next level up?
Genius.
"Uh, you'll notice Apple is still around and doing better than ever."
Yes, Apple IS still around, and they're damn lucky they are. The first Apple, the Apple of the mid-80s era, had that "we have the rockinest computer and OS in the world. Nobody can beat us. Windows? Psssh, who cares." They went from having one of the most popular computer systems in the world to almost dying out, being described as "that beleagured company" almost daily.
The second Apple, the one we know today, is the Apple that doesn't scoff at all competition. The iPod for example...while not THE first mp3 player out there, it was still one of the first. Apple quickly gained 70% of the mp3 player market. Did they sit on their laurels and say "Psh, who cares about Zen and everyone else?" Hell no. They continued to improve on the iPod. They looked at what everyone else was doing. They acted and they reacted to the competition. Same with iTMS...
I agree...fear can be a killer. Don't let fear paralyze you, but don't get that "nobody can beat me" attitude and let a little bit of fear get inside you to pump up that adrenaline and give you that extra boost to win the race when you've got someone catching up to you.
Depending on how they deal with this, Netflix could be THE de facto standard of DVD rentals...or they could be the ones that started the industry and then died out as others perfect their idea. The part that concerns me is how " the company is not really afraid of Blockbuster, Wal-mart and Amazon moving into their markets...". That almost sounds like the Apple of old...thinking you have a superior product and not fearing your competition can kill. If they take their competition seriously and strive to maintain their market share while improving their service before the competitors have a chance to catch up...that's when being the pioneer can pay off.
There are a few reasons they could be trying this. One, they can deploy and control their own private network. This gives them more control over what kind of equipment they can use, how they use it, etc. Also, perhaps cell coverage blows in this area but setting up their WiFi network gives them full coverage. Also, with such network, they can also have their laptops or PDAs in the car to connect with the network and transmit valuable data (records, news flashes, etc) back and forth.
I can think of at least one "portable device" that many women would think is THE best invention ever...
Love how this article comes on the heels of the Panera article talking about how they (Panera) are the largest provider of free WiFi service. Is this the beginning of a "free WiFi" war? Now that would be cool. Competition will only make things better for the mobile users in terms of "price" (if there will be such thing), availability, and most importantly...quality of service.
The thing I find fascinating is how FreeFi will run ads to help pay for their services. The Panera model doesn't rely on ads...it just provides the service to customers as an incentive to come in and buy sandwiches. I don't really see a need to include ads. In theory, it's a great revenue model...getting companies to sign up and pay to have their ads up and running, but how will it work in the real world? Will users revolt and try to block the ads? Or will anyone really give a flyin' F? Perhaps after a year FreeFi will realize they won't need to manage thousands of company ads from around the country and will provide the service for free with much less overhead to deal with. As stated earlier...the competition will bring some nice improvements to the WiFi environment.
Ah...thank you. Was a bit too busy at work to do my usual detective work. I too wouldn't be surprised if there was some invovlement with CMU Robotics. Thanks again.
I'm still trying to figure out if they're talking about the University of Pittsburgh, which has a rather well-known medical program, or Carnegie Mellon University (which would be a Pittsburgh University) which is world famous for its robotics program. Anyone? Bueller?
Actually, there are two ways this could work. There's what you mentioned (inside tech support, etc) and then there's the "we hire you, you manage everything". That's the model Panera uses actually. They don't have their own tech support. When their access points go down, they call the company that set up their WiFi and say "help me!", at which point the said WiFi company either walks a Panera employee through a few steps or they come out themselves to fix it. It's all part of the contract between the establishment (hotel, restaurant) and provider.
Humans cause global warming? Get out! Next they'll say "humans cause polution" and other cockamany "problems".
" any Freshman business student can explain to you the principle of "sunk costs": it doesn't matter how much you've already spent on something, if you can get a better return by throwing it out and replacing it, then you throw it out and replace it!"
It's a great theory...but do you know anyone that really adheres to such principles? Really? In theory, communism is a good plan too. I'm not trying to shoot you down or anything, I'm just saying that REAL human behavior does not often follow sound rules of logic.
Your reason number one was what I was saying...a new monetary and time investment not only in hardware/software but also in training. And you're exactly right with number two. "Hi boss...I screwed up and suggested crap. So, can I have a raise now?" Not gonna happen.
"Given their record in the security area, I don't know why anybody would buy from them.'"
Because people have already laid down monetary investments in buying MS operating systems and the PCs that go along with them. Most people have a hard time going "well, let's just get rid of all this PC hardware and all the MS-related software we bought for it and switch to something better". It's sad but true. There are better options out there, but once you lay down the money (and time), people don't want to throw it all out and lay out yet more cash and time and start all over.