“Apple Computer Inc. has emerged as an increasingly important player in the music industry because of the success of its iPod digital players and its online music store,” Reuters reports. “Hopes are high among the makers of instruments and accessories that Apple, with its recently introduced ‘GarageBand’ program, can have the same energizing effect on their market that the computer maker’s iTunes digital music store has had for recorded music.”
“‘For us, all of a sudden music is the No. 1 priority of the company,’ said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of applications marketing. ‘We’re trying to be a part of the music evolution overall. In a digital environment, our iPods and iTunes are making people excited again about acquiring music. Now we’ve added musical creation to that lifestyle,'” Reuters reports. “The GarageBand program essentially turns a Macintosh computer into a recording studio, enabling users to write and record their own compositions by plugging a guitar or keyboard into the PC and sampling from prerecorded tracks.”
“That type of software has long been available from other firms, but analysts say Apple’s marketing clout and easy-to-use design will kick-start the market. ‘It’s a pretty significant innovation for a targeted audience of amateurs,’ said Phil Leigh, analyst with Inside Digital Media. ‘I would say this niche market has historically been in the tens of millions of dollars, but Apple could theoretically triple the market. If it expanded it into the PC market, it could increase the market tenfold,'” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports., “Noah Dater, head of marketing for SoundToys, a maker of ‘plug-ins’ that extend the functionality of programs like GarageBand, said Apple created an attractive entry point for teenagers with dreams of rock ‘n’ roll stardom. ‘We’re excited because the level of knowledge among 13-year-olds will improve with GarageBand, who will then move up to more complex programs,’ Dater said.”
Full article here.
So, what is the second priority: OS X, computers, …?
What’s amazing about GarageBand is the distinctions it doesn’t make. MIDI, real instruments, and loops are all created equal. With professional apps, you generally need to learn a new set of concepts for each thing you want to do.
Macs have always been the computer of choice for music professionals and advanced amateurs. GarageBand and Apple’s music focus will make the Mac the obvious choice for beginners interested in music.
I am bored of the iPod and iTunes.
Cmon Apple – produce some more kick ass comuter hardware. Please.
Apple needs to have a contest. The best song written with GarageBand should be put on iTMS and the winner gets a contract with Apple for future songs.
This will help get Apple to deal directly with new artists, bypass the RIAA and make more money.
They better get their priorities straight. They should be focusing on marketing OS X and their computers and trying to get more PC users to switch. They should also be focusing on IT and industry to switch over to mac. They should also be focusing on making OS X better than it already is.
Music should be a distant second priority. Sure they’re making sales b/c of the iPod…and everyone thought that the iPods simplicity and ease of use would lure people to the Mac but it hasn’t. Apples market share has DROPPED not increased. This is a huge problem.
Apple should make new ads about switching, Mac OS X and its stability and the wonders of Apple computers and stop airing all these stupid iPod ads. Air ads about your computers dammit! Once people switch they will buy an iPod anyway.
[rant]
While it’s good that Apple has a great, popular and very profitable product, personally I don’t like this total shift in priorities. Apple after all is still a computer company and iPod is based on Apple’s philosophy of designing computers.
There is no doubt that even after iPod is launched, Apple still managed to design PMG5, Xserve G5 and PB and put their innovations to work, but what about iBook and iMac and eMac. Don’t tell me they have lower priority than music.
[/rant]
H-Y-P-E
Do people really think that the Mac platform will suffer because Apple makes music a priority?
Here’s a thought… long term, the opposite is true. Short term, Apple can manage more than one thing at a time.
Besides, calling something the “#1 priority” is just nice words. (Trustworthy Computing, anyone?) You can’t take that and infer dollars or effort being taken away from something else. The operational details of that “priority” are not known to us. Apple has plenty of cash to put into developing the next iPod without firing OS X programmers, or whatever.
re:Apple’s market share has DROPPED not increased.
based on what? also keep in mind that even if it drops, market share is different than user base. market share is apple’s percentage of the computer’s sold in that time period, user base in actual computers in use. the last documented numbers I saw on user base was close to 10%. that means that macs are usable for end users for longer periods without replacement. Apple is one of 2 computer companies that has shown a profit in the last 2 years. As long as Apple is making money and putting out great products, what difference does market share make?
they are making more off the music so they will focus on that apple is a business there goal is to make money music is where they see the money so that is what they want to do
I personally think that GarageBand will drive Mac sales in a way that not even the iPod ever will. Making music a big priority is smart — everybody loves music. Look what you can do with music on a Mac. Look at what you can do with music on a PC. The difference is obvious.
Several pundits predicted that, with the success of the first iPod, Apple would switch priorities and become an electronics maker instead of a computer maker. While they didn’t get it exactly right, they were close. Apple appears to be pulling out of Education market–a key market for increasing the Mac’s market share. They also may be pulling out of enterprise–at least out of the office. Jobs said that “iLife was the Office for the rest of your life”, and that seems to be what Apple is focusing on–computing outside the office.
Personally, office computing is always going to be run on the cheapest hardware regardless of operating costs. That’s just the way upper management thinks. Also, offices are already full of computers, and will usually just upgrade rather than try something completely new. Home computing, however, is a different story on both counts.
I am sorry to see Apple pull out of the war for the office, but I think they are headed in the right direction. If the pathetic state of Windows security isn’t enough to switch ’em, then Apple’s concentrated focus won’t change anything. Better to focus on a more open market.
Well all I know is I shelled out $49 for iLife, $99 for the Jam pack, $99 for the M-Audio Keystation 49e – USB Midi Keyboard, and $149 for the M-Audio MobilePre USB Audio Interface so I can connect my bass, guitars. microphone and monitors.
I’ve been making music for years and using macs for years, but that’s the first $400 I’ve invested in making music on my Mac since I bought a MacRecorder back in the 1980’s. $400 is a lot of money, but It’s a complete package (for me, with what I already have.)
But that is all besides the point. What is really important is that I haven’t been this excited about my music in years!
I think AL, Has an Excellent Idea.
Brilliant really…
“Apple needs to have a contest. The best song written with GarageBand should be put on iTMS and the winner gets a contract with Apple for future songs.
This will help get Apple to deal directly with new artists, bypass the RIAA and make more money.”
Need…(cough)….G5….(gasp)….consumer……(wheez)….computers….
Music is cool. Consumer G5 computers are cooler.
garageband….what?…of interest to about 0.02% of the market???
all the software was available before, but now that Steve J does it, its cool?
Steve can’t bring out computers that sell enough So he is trying To distract everyone from the 24% drop in sales of eMac&iMac; with the musik gig.
Apple = computers; iPod = in-fashion toy
I think GarageBand is a strong interest to about 50% of computer owners. It will drive sales of newer Macs, since it requires computers with DVD drives, so in that sense it’s a very good marketing move, as well as making available a cool new program. I’ve been fooling around with Cakewalk Metro and other programs, and it is a confusing mess, so this is a welcome addition.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Apple Corps. Apple Computer is taking it right to them.
As a record producer/engineer, i’m proud to be a Mac user. I’m currently working in Pro Tools on my 10th Mac, and have used them for my work since ’85. Music needs Macs!!
He didn’t say music was a BIG priority, or A priority, he said it was THE NUMBER 1 priority. Literally this means that OS X or G5s aren’t as important as music. I am surprised and more than a little dismayed that a top-level Apple executive would say this. I am even more dismayed if this is to be true. This means that education; businesses (big and small); scientific (my profession) including supercomputers, NASA/JPL/Mars, etc. are not as important to Apple as music. I guess I need to get me a cheap Dell with Linux on it! No sense getting any more OS upgrades from Apple. The number 1 priority always gets extra internal monies taken from the lower priority projects. So some of the money they get from G5s and OS X has to go to music. This is just the way things work when something is the number 1 priority. They might as well write off selling to businesses and education any more. Dell, HP, MS, IBM, etc. should, and probably will, be using these words when they are marketing potential enterprise customers. “Don’t tell me you are thinking of buying computers from a company whose number 1 priority is music?!”
Look what you can do with music on a Mac. Look at what you can do with music on a PC. The difference is obvious.
actually you can do all the same things with music on a PC that you can with a Mac. It is just much more intuitive and elegant on a Mac, and it all interacts, imovie with itunes with iDVD with iphoto, and now GarageBand with iTunes.
I have used both PCs and Macs for music, and from a music professional’s point of view, there really is only one choice. In the years computer-assisted music has been around, we’ve had 0% success using PCs the same way as one might use a Mac for music, either for midi sequencing or for recording audio. However, the main problem is when you ask the computer to sync to another clock source, for example a tape machine, or even another computer. Macs do this with a minimum of fuss, sometimes it will take a little time to get things 100% in time and in sync (we’re talking total accuracy here). PCs have never, and I repeat never, been able to lock to an external clock source for any length of time, meaning that while it may be in sync at the start of the piece of music, it has drifted way out of time by even 1/4 of the way through, or even less. Macs don’t do that, if you set them up right. I don’t know anyone in this business who has been able to slave a PC to an external clock source successfully, without serious timeline drift of some form. We do this on a daily basis, and our livelihood depends on it, so it’s vital that we have equipment that works, plain and simple. Macs work great!
That’s not to say you can’t use a PC to compose music. That works fine, but when you take your PC into a facility that expects it to lock up to outboard computers and/or mixing consoles, you enter the wacky world of SMPTE sync, which will bring any PC to its knees. Hehe…
Re: Apple publishing music and bypassing RIAA, etc.
This is a BAD IDEA. For purely legal reasons, of course. Could you imagine the field day the Beatles lawyers would have with this? Apple PRODUCING music?? No way. It’s not going to happen. Ever. Apple’s already walking a fairly tight line as it is.
-Joel
For them to say this is their #1 priority, I guess it makes sense. It’s a new area nd requires a lot of attention right now. Maybe he’s saying it to make Adobe less nervous about them enchroaching on their terf? Or Microsoft? “iLife is Microsoft Office for the rest of your life” makes a lot of sense in that context.
But updating hardware and makign OS X more compatible with Windows networks (and Exchange Server) AND supporting the graphics industry as all too important to just go off and play with music.
Number one is okay, if number two isn’t too far down the list.
As long as they keep making the boxes we need, I’ll buy em! Can’t wait until Digidesign embraces PCI-X now, so we can get spanking new G5s.