“What’s the point of a HP-branded iPod? Apple gains additional iPod distribution, marketing resources, and market presence from its iPod partnership with HP. In other words, more stores carry iPods, more television, magazine, and web advertisements mention the iPod name, and more people wind up with iPods. Additionally, as a result of the Apple-HP alliance, iTunes now comes pre-installed on HP’s popular Windows PCs, and HP got to do the legwork to make iTunes compatible with Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center – the piece of software called HPTunes,” Jeremy Horwitz writes for iPodlounge.
“All of these assets, plus additional cashflow and other behind-the-scenes details that are not immediately apparent, are Apple’s benefits. From HP’s standpoint, the choice to sell iPods has benefits as well. Rather than competing against the iPod and sharing 2-4% market share with the likes of Dell, HP gets to share in potentially windfall profits and publicity from the industry’s leading music platform. It can also develop iPod-compatible accessories, such as printable stickers and printers, and enjoy immediate exposure from Apple if it desires,” Horwitz writes.
To answer a few other common reader questions about the iPod+hp, we note the following.
– HP calls the iPod+hp a “Digital music player” on its packaging.
– It can be formatted for use with a Macintosh, just like any other iPod.
– Its installation CD does not include a Macintosh portion, so you’ll need to download free software from Apple if you want to do a full Mac install, and HP will not provide tech support for Mac-related problems.
– Its box uses apparently identical materials to Apple’s, but with slightly different fonts and no Macintosh markings.
– Photographs on the 40GB unit’s box are Apple’s stock 4G iPod product shot, and an image of a crowd listening to a street band, the drummer using white cartoony iPod headphones connected to an iPod on another panel. The phrase “You are your playlist.” appears on that panel, while the last side is a cursory blue specs sheet. HP’s lifestyle picture for the 20GB unit’s box is a woman rocking out in a room with the iPod’s white headphones, hair flying in the air.
Full article featuring product review and photos here.