“Apple’s market share in computers is still small, but there are two reasons to believe its future is bright. The first is the iPod (along with the online iTunes store where users download songs for 99 cents), which showed that Apple can leverage its creativity and the hipness of its brand to enter and dominate new segments in the consumer electronics field. The other is that despite its own strategy, Apple is starting to benefit from enhanced PC compatibility, thanks to the Web. With all our computer brains increasingly being outsourced to the Internet, and with e-mail providing the easiest way to share documents, the days of trying to shuttle diskettes between incompatible machines is coming to an end,” The Los Angeles Times writes in an editorial.
“The iPod is a success that Apple can replicate on many fronts, which is why Jobs looked more than a little excited last week at the MacWorld show. The new mini-Mac he introduced, which retails at $499, could be Apple’s Trojan horse into the video entertainment world, which still doesn’t boast a dominant, all-encompassing hub that will link computers, TVs, digital recorders, stereos and — who knows? — sprinkler systems. And surely someone at Apple is thinking about an iPod that will gobble up your cellphone and personal organizer too,” The LA Times writes. “Getting all our machines to get along with each other, and seem cool while doing so. That is a job for Mr. Jobs.”
Full article here.
damn, Apple makes the New York and LA Times editorials in one week. things are getting big!
I already see this one coming
I can’t wait for an apple branded PDA with the ability to consolidate your music, phone, email, images (maybe even video), contact info, gps, calendar, etc… into one simple concise unit. I know it’s probably years down the road but, with a lot of the items they are releasing and the path that we can ‘see’ them taking, it looks quite feasible.
Magic word = “boy”… “Boy, oh, boy that would be swell!!”
I want The Device from Apple now!
My MDN Magic Word, no kidding: “soon”
The world is looking to Apple and Steve Jobs to cut the Gordian knot with their famous innovation and integrate the digital living room and make our lives easier and better. I am not in the least surprised that no one is looking to Bill Gates to do this. They have already taken their shot and no one seems very impressed (especially after the BSOD at the CES fiasco).
If anybody can do it, Apple can!
loki did you read about the Austrian guy who put a VNC program on his pocket PC and runs his powerbook at home from it? Pretty cool and when it is open the Pocket PC looks just like a Mac.
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,66292,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
And surely someone at Apple is thinking about an iPod that will gobble up your cellphone and personal organizer too,”
——
Bzzzt! The point is getting these things to work together, not getting them to converge on one device.
Say what you will.. a Motorolla phone with 20 Gigs will be too expensive and the interface will be irritating, and the usage will be frustrating too…Oh yeah.. repair costs through the roof
Booo to convergence
“Trojan Horse into the video entertainment world”
Funny, I made the exact same point in a thread a few days ago, but I said that it was a Trojan horse into the consumer electronics universe.
The use of the term “Trojan Horse” is a good one. Sell them the hardware as an innocent computer and then release the software app later. The OS has all of the tools and goodies inside- all that is needed is for Apple to tie them into a usable single application.
Jack A, that is awesome!! Does that mean that I can set my PC up as a VNC and run OSX on it from my G5? If so, please give me some more links to reference and I’m on it!!!
Jack A,
Thanks for mentioning the great Wired article here. This guy thinks mobility is so important, he considers a PowerBook too taxing to lug around. I saw it yesterday and sent it to my brother. I agree with loki, it would have been nice if they’d said which VNC apps he was using. Obviously he needed either software that worked on both OS X and Pocket PC, or separate apps that can connect with each other. I’ll have to ask my brother, he’s the Windows/Mac network guru in the family.
loki,
Here’s VersionTracker’s page of VNC software:
http://www.versiontracker.com/php/search.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=VNC&plt;[]=macosx
“Trojan Horse into the video entertainment world”
Yeah Right, Not with that Video Card.
“especially after the BSOD at the CES fiasco”
Jack A.
Did you even watch CES?
The blue screen didnt occur during Bills pres. It occured when a Developer called “EA GAMES” tryed running a beta (Unreleased) version of a new racing game only to find a blue screen stating “out of memory”
And just so you guys no. But you will all contend im wrong. (And thats fine, whatever) BSOD’s are typically caused by a hardware failure or incompatible memory. These are mistakes made by the people who build/upgrade the HARDWARE not the software. BSOD’s are jst a way for you to tell why the system has dumped. But again 99.9 % of the time ITS NOT WINDOWS. Get a clue people.
The BSOD at least gives you info unlike the infamous Kernel panics in OS X.
BTW” Loki
Try using RDC for mac. I use it to control my PC from my mac.
It comes with office 04 and can be downloaded here
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient
It’s the Trojan Pony!
mike wrote: “Booo to convergence”
Please note that there is a difference between convergence and integration. You misuse the word for what you are trying to describe (integration).
I am an advocate of convergence whereby disparate systems are able to work as one to multiply their individual potentials. The last piece of integrated technology I stood behind was a Swiss Army knife (which ironically has been used synonymously as something with a lot of crap built into it).
edgeknight..
that may be your opinion.. but convergence refers to the old TV/VCR combos. Taking two things that are very different and putting them together for the sake of convenience (think of the PSP). To do this, you have to make compromises due to differences in form factor.
As a result, the repair costs go through the roof, and if one component breaks you have to chuck the whole thing (Imagine chucking an 500 dollar phone because the display cracked, as opposed to a 99 dollar phone that didn’t have full motion video and a camera and slick OS)
The only people that want convergence are the producers.. duh.. that’s why we keep hearing about it. For consumers it totally sucks. Compromise, compromise, compromise.
But for producers, imagine, if they only sold one good. Imagine if Sony just sold one good. And everyone who wanted a TV would buy this good.. everyone who wanted a VCR would buy this good.. if you want kareoke, you have to buy the good, because it’s the only way to get kareoke. So it’s basically a way to spike demand by offering consumers no choice. You can streamline production (one product), and drive costs way way down.
That’s what convergence is.
Convergence, as you describe it, is I guess you’re talking about iLife. THAT’S INTEGRATION!! The way the applications work/integrate together. Pffft.
This is basic English.. hey Bono will back me up(SJ is the Dalai Lama of Integration or whatever)… Convergence implies things coming together, MERGING… Integration implies different systems getting along.
This is basic English.
As you said,.. with the swiss army knife, Convergence only works when the things being converged arent really that different.. just like how the PS2 has a game player and a movie player.. they’re just one DVD player with a software selector when you put the disc in. That’s not convergence. That’s two very similar technologies. That’s very little compromise (the function select screen is the compromise).
Got this link today in my email…
http://www.fullcompass.com/MediaCenterPC/
these poor souls have so far to go….
headless macs, made for headless people.
trippah.. what do you think a tower is?
NoMacForU
Whether a Blue screen of death is hardware or software related does matter. What matter is you computer crashed. That’s why it is nice to have the same company produce the hardware and OS so that it works properly.
I meant “does not” not ” does” matter
I’m not talking about an MP3 player that can make an omelet. Even a modular device would suit me. Look at the peripherals available for the iPod. Why not have it be able to integrate a phone, with far more advanced contact management features, mayhaps even video-cell phone abilities down the road? Data is data, whether it’s music, contacts, video, etc… and I for one enjoy being able to consolidate where it is all stored and how it is managed. Also, an iPod and cell phone both utilize audio in/out. There are a lot of similarities between these two products and resources that they could both share to add more functionality (imagine having your mp3’s playing for whoever is holding while you’ve switched over to call waiting!!!) And if they are already selling vast quantities of the combination fo such disparate items as a cell phone and camera combo, I know there is a margket for convergence item that integrate well (which we all know apple can do masterfully)
Brought to us by “data”… I really think MDN knows what we’re going to type before we do!!!