“The first computer with a built-in spot for an iPod is on its way–and it’s not a Mac,” Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “Hewlett-Packard is planning to add a prime spot for Apple Computer’s music player in its latest Media Center m7000 desktop PC. The computer doesn’t have a dock itself, but rather features a molded piece of plastic that fits around Apple’s own dock to allow the device to gracefully dock atop the PC.”
“The move raises the question of when consumers will see a similar feature on a Mac. By some accounts, Apple itself had been planning to include some kind of built-in dock in the Mac Mini, but pulled the feature before the product was announced in January. An Apple representative declined to comment,” Fried reports. “At the same time, the move signals that HP has not lost interest in the iPod… new HP-branded iPods are on the way and should be announced in the coming weeks, said Siobhan O’Connor, HP’s vice president of consumer brand and marketing. ‘Expect us to have, like we did with the original products, a very similar lineup to what Apple has,’ O’Connor told CNET News.com.”
Full article with image here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hopefully, this “molded piece of plastic” is only the beginning of a real “iPod push” from HP that will benefit both Apple and HP. So far, HP’s iPod efforts have been disappointing as we had expected much more when the HP and Apple iPod deal was originally announced.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
What’s the point of continuing the ‘Apple iPod by HP’ deal? – March 30, 2005
Was the Mac Mini originally intended to sport an integrated iPod Dock? – March 01, 2005
Sure am having a hard time picturing a how an iPod could be “gracefully” docked onto the top of an HP tower. Any way you look at it, it’s still a pc that doesn’t run OS X. And how many pc towers are even kept out in the open, in a position to have anything set on top of it with any “head room” to begin with?
And Fried apparently has some sort of inside information about the Mac mini possibly having a dock, or is placing great stock in those “some accounts” and making it appear as more truthful than it really is. While it was nice speculation, and some pointed out the possibility after doing a disassembling of the unit, I’m not fully convinced it was ever something Apple was actually “planning” to do, since Apple denies pretty much anything they haven’t already announced. Just their not choosing to comment isn’t a tacit “yes” from Apple to those rumors and speculation.
First post?
I just felt like it. :p
Haha, that’s what I get for hesitating.
Longtime reader, just lurking mostly. But I thought I had a shot.
*shrugs*
This just in…
HP has two other offerings in the works:
A “pink slip” holder… so that your employer can leave friendly note for you.
A jelly-bean dispenser…. sigh.
“Invent” my a$$.
HP has become nothing more than another Wintel-box builder.
I mean, really, other than their ‘brand’, exactly what is it that differentiates HP from Dell, IBM (Lenovo), Toshiba, Sony, or any other “Made in China” piece-of-crap computer builder that’s out there??
It’s been a long time since HP has done anything really innovative.
fandango…
the irony is that.. besides the enderle quote about HP outselling Apple in iPods, Apple outclasses HP in distribution on the iPod front..
I mean.. I just don’t see HP iPods in stores.. though, obviously, anyone buying from the HP website would fine them there…
Ironic because… with the rumors of a Mac Mini soon selling at Best Buy, Apple’s biggest problem is distribution on the Computer front
Hey, I’ve just designed something amazing, I lit my mini blow torch and melted my mini Dock onto the top of my Mac mini, it’s revolutionary!
MW: rather, as in I’d ‘rather’ use a Mac.
James you are a stupid dumb ass who I hope falls down a flight of steps and cracks his head open in a spectacular fashion this afternoon. Who cares who gets the first post in? I care who gets a USEFUL post in.
Now I wanna know does this mean that HP will continue with the iPod by HP deal, or is that dock a Carly legacy that will disappear after one generation?
MDN Magic Word: “miss”, that means you James.
Well this would explain why they’ve suddenly gone with the “white” theme for their computers, wouldn’t it…?!
James:
In the Halloween special “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”, Charlie himself said it best, “I got a rock!”
There’s a lot of complaints or dismissal of HP around here recently, with their CEO follies, lackluster sales of hPods, or the new, original “aluminum and white/lucite” color scheme they just, um, Invented. And yes, they’re only a lowly Wintel boxmaker. But let’s give them props for the one thing they continue to do: ship iTunes (and thus QuickTime) on every PC they sell.
wow…some of you just can’t ever be satisfied. What should HP have done? Invent their own mp3 player that would be doomed to failure within a few months? Sure, you can criticize those that poorly compete with Apple, but then you criticize those that try to join Apple. Nothing’s ever good enough. Just be happy that HP had the soundness of mind to recognize the importance of Apple in the computer world, something that most companies are reluctant to admit.
I wonder if they spent much time actually checking how easy it would be to use a dock on top of a tower case? It’s bound to be either too high (if it’s on your desk) or inaccessible (if it’s under) or there’s not enough room (if it’s under a low desk or in one of those desks w/ a special shelf for a tower case.
And even if it’s convenient, the dock slides into a hole in the top, but where does the cable go? Sits on top of the case, I presume — unless they had the foresight to put a cable channel in it. So now you can’t put anything ELSE on top of the case. No good no good no good.. just put your dock on your desk like a normal person. Or don’t bother with the dock, since it’s a useless gadget that actually serves no purpose anyway.
long winded,
I use my dock every day, as it prevents the back of my iPod from getting more scratched up than it already is!
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The King is right! I get the picture that most Mac users are just whiny little cry babies. You have one of the largest pc companies in the world acknowledging how good Apple is and all you can do is complain about it?
Don’t for get that “Steve” said the top 3 pc makers were begging him to release OS X on their systems. One of those probably would be HP. That’s how you crush M$. One lone company with over priced underpowered hardware can’t do it. That’s why ridiculous Linux has a larger market share than Apple. They can use any hardware! M$ are very worried about Linux, not so worried about Apple. Let HP and a couple other companies start shipping OS X and Redmond would become a ghost town!
MW- “must” as in- something “must” make you guys happy!
It’s better than a Dell DJ molded dock holder.
I will accept it as long as it increases market share and benefits apple.
I agree with king_Alvarez.
“I get the picture that most Mac users are just whiny little cry babies.”
You get all that from a couple of posts on this forum?
What a towering intellect you have.
DK-
I think you’ll find it a tad more than a couple cowboy…
Eric The Red,
I wish people would stop teasing HP about their partnership with Apple and using the “Invent” slogan at the same time.
At least that is an original business plan with Apple, no one else is doing it.
If you want to criticize HP for their “Invent” slogan, it should be for using Windows!