“I suspect there are many reasons for Apple not pursuing video (or subscriptions services) yet [with their iPod platform],” Paul Thurrott writes for Internet-Nexus. Thurrott details four reasons why:
1. Jobs’ ties to the movie industry (Pixar especially). This is the mentality that sunk Sony’s recent MP3 players: Because Sony owns a record company, it cares more about protecting its artists (and its record business) than it does about making good devices for consumers. And as for Apple, remember, there is no such company as Apple anymore. There’s just “Steve Jobs Inc.,” a company that sells Macs and iPods. Soon it will just be iPods.
2. Apple’s relatively limited R&D budget means the company must focus, laser-like, on specific projects, so it logically picks the most viable ones first. Music? A no-brainer, and Apple did it right. Photos? They’ll get there. But video (and even more to the point, subscription services) is hard work, and you need partners. Which leads me to …
3. No one is interested in Apple’s small platform, and Apple isn’t interested in wooing them. The nice thing about the “Microsoft digital media platform” is that it’s an ecosystem of interdependent pieces. Microsoft can offer media companies a platform–Windows–that ones 95 percent of the market. What can Apple offer them? Let’s see: The latest versions of Mac OS X command about .5 percent to 1 percent of the market. That’s not enough. However, if Apple is successful enough with the iPod (and again, it’s getting there), they might be able to parlay that into deals with the CinemaNows of the world. Microsoft got there first because of their platform strength. Also, Microsoft tends to work with others. Apple tends to go it alone. They need to suck it up and start partnering more frequently, even if some of those partnerships don’t result in immediate dollars. It’s called investing in the future.
4. Apple can’t afford to launch a huge failure. If Apple has one more high-profile failure, it’s all over.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thurrott’s pipe dream: “there is no such company as Apple anymore. There’s just ‘Steve Jobs Inc.,’ a company that sells Macs and iPods. Soon it will just be iPods. If Apple has one more high-profile failure, it’s all over.”
Paul’s really gotta just say no to the pipe.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Analyst Michael Gartenberg: why there’s no video Apple iPod – October 28, 2004
Microsoft could learn a lot from Apple’s iPod – October 26, 2004
Signs point to Apple adding to their 30 million Mac users via ‘iPod Halo Effect’ – October 26, 2004
Guys, don’t do it. Don’t click on his link. You’ll only encourage him.
However, we can laugh and make snide comments all we like, right?
Tera Patricks
Mac360.com
Yeah, yeah.
Blah, blah, blah.
Apple’s stock is shooting through the roof, and this
duffus, Thurrott, screams “the sky is falling!”
The twit.
Poor Paul is having a prolonged psychiatric episode as Apple blast past $50 and the $20 billion market value milestones. He cannot take it that Apple owns the digital music player market and the legal digital downloads market and that the iPod Halo Effect is causing the sheep to awaken and take a look at Macintosh. Paul is afraid because he knows what will happen when they do. ‘Bye ‘bye Windows, hello Mac!
FYI: Paul didn’t write this. Russell Beattie did.
Full thread here: http://www.russellbeattie.com/notebook/1008113.html
Ed,
Paul did write it – read his article – he is replying to the Beattie article. MDN has reported Paul Thurrott’s comments in italics above.
I think Paul Thurrott would do well as a tech journalist for the National Enquirer. He could do a column in the back of the tabloid for C|Net and spread all kinds of FUD for those enquiring minds who want to know.
Who’s Paul Thurrot? Sounds like a fool to me. Why all the fuss over what a loser says.
Apple, just makes Macs? This guy has to get out of his own website and actually look around. Has he even heard of XServes? Has he even read InfoWorld or eWeek? They’re all saying OS X is the best OS in the world. They are all saying Apple is now competitive in the cluster supercomputer world.
What an idiot. Even I know this guy spews only crap!
MDN. Please mark this date in 2005, pull out this column, and send it around so we can all get a good laugh at this guy. I could count all the people I know who would want a video player with a 2″ screen. Well, actually, don’t really need a hand. I was actually worried Steve would try the VPod, I’m relieved he didn’t.
I say we make a deal with Paul Thurrott.
When Apple stock hits $60 he should jump off a cliff.
Then no one has to read his B$.
What does Paul have against Apple anyway?
Damn! I can’t stand TurdRott!
Oh well, Turdrott lives in his own little fantasy world, let’s just let him be happy in it. Meanwhile, we’ll just stick to reality shall we?
We’re in need of a new investigative reporter for 60 Minutes now that all of us here are over the age of 75 afterall. This Paul Thurrott guy sounds like a perfect candidate and he’s exactly what we need to maintain our reputation here at CBS.
OMG: Thanks for clearing that up. It looked like one continuous article to me. Paul didn’t do much of a good job separating the two different pieces.
I’m sure Apple’s iPod team has their sites on video. It’s just that they want to make it a surprise. The Quicktime team has been gearing up the cellphone companies with xServes for media content. It’s simply a matter of time and you know how Apple is, everything HAS to be perfect!
Paul wants a spanking. Let’s not give him what he wants.
Oh hell, let’s all spank him with mace.
It’s called building up the public’s interest. Getting them to salivate over the idea. Then when you bring it out, they can’t wait to get their hands on it. Thats a classic marketing strategy.
“4. Apple can’t afford to launch a huge failure. If Apple has one more high-profile failure, it’s all over.”
What kind of failure would Apple have that would doom the company? Free giveaway Macs and iPods?
Hey, isn’t this the same guy that predicted that once Napster launches, iTunes would be reduced to 20% market share of online music while napster with its superior brand and samsung music player would rule the online music space?
Yawn….he’s funny in a look the 3-year old pooped himself again way.
If you do have to view his site (I would suggest just doing a search and looking at the google cache), read all the comments from pro-apple users. They’re hilarious.
This guy is amazing. Is he really this stupid or are those M$ checks big enough that he is willing to look like a stupid ass?
There is no sense of honesty or standing by one’s own beliefs. People try to come up with explanations about why certain features are not present. But in reality, they are just acting out of some sense of obligation to defend one’s home team no matter what they do.
I’m sure that if Apple introduces video playback in the iPod, everybody Mac user who dismissed the idea will turn around and start praising the video capability. Just like they dismissed modern operating system features like preemptive multitasking and automatic memory management when they were missing from OS 9, but now praise these features in OS 10. Just like PC DOS users who rejected the GUI and mouse, but now think Windows is the center of the universe.
does he know anything about technology? Audio and video content really have (nor should they) nothing to do with your OS.
Quicktime is Apple’s platform in that sense and Windows Media is MS’s. Quicktime is everywhere, now that i comes with iTunes its on most PCs and its used on tons of servers for handling media content, its huge and all over the place. Apple is and has always been way ahead of MS on multimedia content delivery and usage, the enire “ecosystem”
As for having a “small” R&D budget, they spend billions a year (Jon Ive must make half of that)
And my favorite part “If Apple has one more high-profile failure…” what was the last rel failure on Apple? The Newton? The Pippin? Maybe he means not meeting the 100 mil mark for iTunes sales in the first year? Moron
This guy is simply retarded. How can anyone take him seriously?
“the nice thing about the “Microsoft digital media platform” is that it’s an ecosystem of interdependent pieces.”
– yea pieces of s*it.
“Microsoft tends to work with others.”
– his definition of working with others is being monopolistic, competition killing, greedy, non-innovating, and copy-all-you can
People who use M$ virus and worm ridden products deserve what they get and Paul is just another butt monkey on their payroll.
I agree with MS Blaster that we’ll all change our tunes and start praising a video iPod when Apple introduces something to that effect. However, I disagree as to why.
I totally agree with SJ about content. I have no real video content to speak of. I have a good collection of DVDs but I don’t really have the hard drive space to store them digitally. I have a digital video recorder to save programs off the Dish but no real way to get it from the digital recorder to my mac to my iPod. I get impatient waiting for movie previews – I can’t imagine downloading a full movie. At this point NexFlix is easier.
Apple will have some sort of portable video device (other than the iBook and PowerBook) in the future and that is because content levels will have increased. I will change my tune and jump on the SJ bandwagon because the business circumstances have changed.
MS Blaster, it not that we wouldnt love video on the iPod, its realizing that just because you can stuff a feature in there does not make it work well, seamlessly. what SJ believes there is a viable reason (in his eyes) to view video through the iPod and legal content to use it with, we will have video in the iPod. Hell i would like calendar input on the iPod, but Sj is in charge of features, not I. The iPod is not an omnopotent device, just a damn well designed music player with some cool extras and a fabulously simple design
The ignorance of guys like Thurrott is why it feels so righteous to be a Machead.