“Even though more competitors are angling into the crowded online music business, Apple’s iPod (the hardware) and iTunes (the software) remain the standard for digital music,” Paul R. La Monica writes for CNN/Money. “The company is no longer nearly dependent on the Mac as it once was. As such, Apple has continued to post better-than-expected financial results, and skeptical Wall Street analysts have had to keep raising their earnings estimates.”
La Monica writes, “Apple is a rarity in the tech sector right now — a company that doesn’t appear close to hitting a peak in its sales or earnings cycle. And trends in tech favor Apple more than companies with more exposure to corporate demand, said Darcy Travlos, an analyst with Caris & Co. (She doesn’t own the stock and her firm has no banking relationship with Apple.) Travlos said iPod is just the tip of the iceberg, noting its success is part of a larger trend in tech: the desire by the consumer to manage and create all forms of digital content. ‘The last tech cycle was driven by (businesses adopting) networking but I think this tech cycle will be more consumer driven,’ said Travlos. ‘Investors need to look at the larger picture of what Apple is accomplishing. Apple is going to do for personalized content management what Microsoft did for the office.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’d like to clarify: “Apple is going to do for personalized content management what Microsoft did for the office” except it’ll work better, not be infested with viruses, and be enjoyable to use.
i like apple
OK MDN ! Apple has gained back the Momentum.
A fantastic JOBS in this days of hard competition.
damn – i just read the article and was going to post a link to it in another thread!
it’s a good read.
I am waiting on my mac media edition OS
What! You only ‘like’ Apple?
erk:
It already exists: it’s called OS X.
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i like mac os x
apple used to advertise the ilife suite with “like Microsoft office for the rest of your life”
I love my Powerbook.
The news that Apple Computer is to follow Microsoft in producing an operating tailored to media management has been widely welcomed by analysts. Microsoft’s Media Center OS launched to much applause over a year ago but has gained little traction as yet, computer makers HP and Gateway said that the market is growing and would continue to grow as consumers became aware of the benefits the platform provides. The majority of consumers interviewed in a street survey said they were unaware of Microsoft’s Media Centre and believed Apple computer’s Mac OS X to be superior for managing digital media. When asked to comment Microsoft admitted that they had failed to communicate the benefit to customers in their marketing, a matter they are to re-address with a $3Bn marketing campaign.
Apple’s immediate response to Windows Media Center was to dismiss it, now it seems they are changing their tune. Learning from Microsoft’s mistakes Apple’s version of Media Center has market focus and Apple are confident they can hit the sweet spot. Recent versions of Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, have been named after cats, the current itteration being Panther with Tiger expected in the spring. The special digital media version also has a cat moniker, ‘Pussy’, no surprise then that the market Apple has identified is digital pornography.
Pornography is a fascinating business, and I mean the business rather than the content. Always in the forefront of new technology, high quality paper and printing, then 35mm film, video tape, CD-ROMs and DVD it came as no suprise to industry watchers that pornography was the first business category to be profitable on the internet and still it leads the industry. “With around 30% of all images on the web, the most used search terms and almost universal interest it is surprising [that] technology companies have been so reluctant to openly embrace the [market]”, said Rob Enderle, the technology analcyst(TM).
continued:
Paul Thurrott, of Paul Thurrott’s Internet Nexus, was less sure the software would be successful, “Apple is already strongest in the graphic creation market anyway, and in the consumer market most winkers use Windows and are unlikely to switch (http://www.fact-index.com/s/sw/switch__bdsm_.html), they’re mostly looking for cheap thrills”.
Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing, pointed out that whilst people readily acknowledge that there are many pornography companies on the internet they didn’t immediately recognise these companies only exist because they have customers, “there are tens of millions of customers for digital imaging, movies and audio out there, it’s not just the content creators, the consumers need great tools to manage all that media they have downloaded”, he said.
Preliminary indications are that the software will have an iTunes like interface enabling easy sorting, categorisation and finding of images. The ability to automatically reject poor quality images is integral, based upon technology for the junk mail filter from Apple’s widely acclaimed Mail.app. Automatic context searching for images, a technology available elsewhere has been subject to the usual Apple refinement of ease of use. Images are analysed for content and are automatically sorted in to standard categories like Big Tots, Wet Drams, Swinging Sixties and Soft F-cus. Users can also create their own categories and rules, a definite bonus for those who think differently.
Apple as usual has refused to comment about complimentary hardwear despite rumours of a ‘Rod’ computer to replace the failed Cube, and a headless iMac shaped rather more alike a part of the female anatomy (with the power button right on top, just where you’d expect to find it).
I think SJ and Aplle are smart enough to realize that Mac computers are not their only viable business. they will milk the iPod to what is worth.
So if that means expanding iLife to work on windoze they will do it. with all the rumors flying around about the latest iPod, it just makes sense if they make iPhoto avail on the windoze platform as well. and they will charge for it.
Profit. Profit. but also expansion into new market.
do you mean coral all of us into a crappy industry standard? i hope not
but i do have more faith in apple than microsoft to do right by all of us
Apple doesnt need to make a media center edition. Personally I’m intrigued by Apples supposed partnership with Tivo. If Apple can improve Tivo and make it easy to network it with our computers Ill love it.
Thanks “Guest Poster+#500,000,079.53”
That cracked me up. Reminded me of a college roomate I had many, many years ago who was in the habit of reading newspaper articles outloud. He’d start out reading the article but you could never tell when he diverged off into his own, made-up, story. He always cracked me up too.
NAWWW why would I want computer geeks to control my music?