Steve Jobs is “ringing your doorbell and pushing a sleek video iPod up against the glass pane. He’s got Walt Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger and NBC-Universal Television Group President Jeff Zucker in tow, each armed with baskets of digital content. It’s enough to thrill even the tiniest iPod devotees,” Monica Rivituso writes for SmartMoney. “In other words, Jobs is wooing you anew. It’s the same thing he’s been doing for years, only this time the stakes are higher, the technology is more sophisticated and the partnerships are all the more critical. We’re talking about the digital home, yes, but more importantly, we’re talking about who owns the consumer. And right now, Apple’s in an enviable spot.”
Rivituso writes, “Pictures, music and video aren’t new anymore. But what’s Apple’s bigger plan? Who is it up against and does it stand a chance? I’ve written about the battle for the living room and competitive lay of the land before. The players are still very much the same. Cable companies that control the set-top boxes remain best positioned, which is why Cisco Systems wasted little time in snapping up set-top box king Scientific-Atlanta (the $6.9 billion acquisition is pending). But the biggest shift comes from Apple: This is a company that’s stepping up its game. Big time.”
“The early days of the video iPod bear uncanny resemblance to the original iPod’s launch four years ago — but on a larger scale. Back then, Apple introduced a product that was deemed cool and piqued interest, but wasn’t considered an absolute must-have by everyone. Apple quietly put together iTunes, which catapulted the company to the market-share leader in downloaded music. Today, Jobs & Co. is inking deals with video content providers in the same calculated way. Mark my words: The full extent of this vision has yet to be revealed,” Rivituso writes.
“Of course, the computer maker known for supreme style is well-versed in expertly promoting its vision. But it’s also stumbled in the past by gripping its technology licenses too tightly, reminds Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a technology-research and consulting firm based in Wayland, Mass. Back in the ’80s, Apple had better technology and decent market share, but Microsoft steamrolled over it in part because it was willing to partner with any and every box maker to create a PC ecosystem,” Rivituso writes. “Apple is facing a similar situation today, according to Kay. Whereas competitors such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard are members of the Digital Living Network Alliance — the group that’s setting wireless and wired interoperability standards for PCs, consumer electronics gadgets and mobile devices in the digital home — Apple is not. True to form, the company is doing its own thing, says Kay, something he finds particularly irksome because it sets up a scenario where consumers will have to choose between standards. And that ultimately could create some major problems down the road. ‘I think at this moment they have to focus on developing the ecosystem and including everybody else,’ he says, later adding, ‘It would be some kind of Shakespearean tragedy for them to make the same mistake twice.'”
Full article here.
Apple can’t “make the same mistake twice,” since the business situation is completely different (see “The iPod is not the Mac, so stop trying to compare them“). And who really cares if Roger Kay finds Apple’s strategy “irksome,” anyway? Apple’s firing on all cylinders and just needs to stay the course, keep innovating, and adding content. Apple already has the de facto standard for legal online digital music (Protected AAC with FairPlay DRM) and is well on its way to establishing Protected MPEG-4 video as the de facto standard for legal online digital video.
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