“Steve Jobs has the twinkling confidence of someone who is battling the entire technology and media establishment—and winning. At his highly anticipated keynote speech yesterday at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple’s cocky co-founder laid out the next phase in his plan to turn his company’s hardware, software and online services into the digital media hub of the entire world. Aside from expanding the video content in the iTunes library and rolling out newer versions of his iPhoto and iVideo [sic] editing software, Jobs unveiled new iMacs and MacBook Pro laptops, which are now powered by Intel chips. They run at up to several times the speed Apple’s old G4 and G5-processor computers,” Brad Stone writes for Newsweek.
“Jobs announced that iTunes will hit the billion-songs-purchased mark in the next few months… The iTunes store is currently selling songs at a rate of 3 million per day, and it accounts for 83 percent of all digital music sales. Last October, Apple beat all of its rivals to the online video marketplace, and has since sold more than eight million videos, including TV programs from content providers such as NBC, ABC and of course, Jobs’ other company, Pixar,” Stone writes. “Apple’s secret sauce is the soothing consistency and reliability of its service. Apple sells songs for 99 cents, videos for $1.99, and ensures that all these songs, podcasts, TV shows and short films work on its own stylish line of iPods. One day, consumers might rebel against the copyright restrictions Apple places on its digital files and the lack of variety in its line of media players. For now, they simply love how seamlessly Apple’s media ecosystem works.”
“Last week, I got a glimpse of Apple’s competition—which is pretty much everyone else in high-tech. At Las Vegas’s sprawling, chaotic four day Consumer Electronics Show (CES), giants like Microsoft and Intel, Google and Yahoo, Samsung and Sony, the Starz movie service and phone firms Verizon and Sprint, all announced their own digital media initiatives. The conclusion: every media store will work a little differently, prices and plans will be wildly inconsistent and not everyone’s technology will be compatible,” Stone writes. “No wonder Steve Jobs has that grin on his face.”
Full article here.
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“the copyright restrictions Apple places on its digital files”
This isn’t Apple’s choice, it’s the RIAA. Place blame where it is due.
It’s not like the other stores let you pirate freely or something.
I’ve got a grin on my face too. My wife needs a new laptop.
Macbook Pro, here we come!
~M
I LOVE STEVE JOBS ANYTIHG HE DOSE IS GOOD FOR MAC
I have a grin on my face right now too. AAPL stock price
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At least all these writers are now reporting from the same basic assumptions: Apple owns the media delivery/player space. Everybody else wants it. Some are trying to work together. None of them are doing very well at it. It’s Apple’s game to lose. So far they’ve consistently made the best moves in the game. We don’t see that changing.
In years past most writers worked very hard to deny these obviosities. They’ve finally succumbed to the “No Duhs”.
I don’t want a Toshiba laptop. what a stupid add.
Brad Stone has given us his astute notions of Apple’s Ecosystem, although I’m not sure about his idea of Steve’s confident grin. Rather, I believe it is a masterful grin, one due to the fact that Apple has knowingly delivered a gift to all of us that we are only beginning to grasp, a gift that enables us to deal more forthrightly with civilization’s master processes. Joseph Campbell is, surely, trembling in his grave with his imaginings of the possibilities wrought by Apple Computer’s extant display of both their capabilities and capacities.
Apple has facilitated a masterful process for us, one that is essentially free for us to use as we choose. I wonder how many decades will pass before anthropologists and sociologists will be able to adequately intuit what Steve Jobs demonstrated for us during his ’06 MacWorld presentation.
Will it take the artists among us that long to measure up to the gift? The country music guys and gals may not believe they aid the development of civilization as they present their vingles but they surely do. Investment in vingles has become among the hottest of topics for artist of all kinds everywhere.
Even Brad Stone can vingle us from his position with Newsweek, and likely become very successful with his efforts. Newsweek itself could benefit from the practice, surely.
Now, if we can get some vingles to help Muslims (and other religious types everywhere) learn to balance what they believe with what they know, then maybe they’ll begin to realize a healthier dose of hope.
In any event, we have less need for alternatives to Apple’s process than we do for lots of vingles, ones that tend to measure up to the gift we’ve been given.
Steve Jobs laid it all out back in 2000 when he talked about the Digital Hub. Little did anyone comprehend the implications of high power technology matching people’s desire to get information rapidly in a myriad of ways.
Microdoze and Dull didn’t quite get it back then. They have been scrambling ever since to retain a market share, which can evaporate as quickly as it appeared. Just last year Dull’s CEO was putting down Apple’s apparent success. Wonder what they’re thinking now as Apple’s stock keeps rising?
I hate the way all these analysts and journalists are taking Steve’s comment about the 2x speed increase in the iMac, and saying this means the new Macs are much faster than G5s. A dual core G5 runs at roughly the same speed as the Core Duo, yet at 90nm. If IBM get their arses into gear and shrink the die to 65nm, the G5 will be faster, and is also 64-bit.
Apple aren’t stupid. All they’ve done is make the iMac roughly the same speed as the bottom of the pile PowerMac so not to cannibalise sales, but to give developers enough reason to UniBin their software now. Pros still need PowerMacs for full on speed.
Until applications are Universal Binary. Apple is in a great spot now. It has an OS that can run on multiple platforms. That is great news. Apple can provide products that target what their users need. If a G5 chips works better for Final Cut Pro, then you can get a G5 Powermac. If you need a powerful laptop, you can get something with an Intel chip. Not to be locked into something and have options open is a good thing.
It’s kind of funny in a way. I remember when NT used to run on Alpha chips. In fact, when I worked Hitech we almost bought an Alpha system because everyone said NT 4 worked way better. But Microsoft decided to tank it. Pity. Perhaps if they had kept a multiple architecture approach they wouldn’t be in the jam they are in now….
He makes an interesting comparison:
CES: sprawling, chaotic, huge, wildly inconsistent and much of it incompatible.
MACWORLD: smaller, focussed, reliable and seamless ecosystem.
Or we could say more generally:
IT WORLD: Chaotic, copying, re-gurgitating with a little innovation thrown in from time to time.
APPLE: Creative innovation and quality, all the time.
Fortunately analyst, so called experts, and other know it alls don’t run Apple or it really would have died years ago.
“Apple has knowingly delivered a gift to all of us that we are only beginning to grasp, a gift that enables us to deal more forthrightly with civilization’s master processes.”
Shit. What’s in your Kool-Aid?
“The conclusion: every media store will work a little differently, prices and plans will be wildly inconsistent and not everyone’s technology will be compatible,” Stone writes. “No wonder Steve Jobs has that grin on his face.” “
the reason apple is currently not licensing fairplay
“iVideo software”? How do these writers get their jobs? More importantly, how do they keep them when they keep producing horribly inaccurate stories? Nearly every story I see on the web about Apple, the Macintosh platform, or the iPod has some serious mistake in it.
Macaday, your comment reminds me of something Dvorak wrote recently!
He noted that CompUSA was fragmented, while Apple Stores were so “on message”, that he wonders when Dell, HP and others will wake up and create their own stores. Let’s hope there also isn’t a DellWorld conference!
What is the DEAL with Apple’s stock? It is up in premarket trading _again_ – another $1.47 to $85.37 a stub. This is over an $11 gain this week – 15%
Just a few more points and Apple will have the same market capitalization as Dell!
CES may have been sprawling and chaotic, but it was also much more geared towards multimedia hardware and services, which is where the growth opportuntities lie. Apple spent a lot of time telling us how much money they’ve made thus far, but not a single new multimedia product or service was introduced. CES was almost ALL about that.
Now I realize that what Apple has done thus far has been far more seemless and deep, but I also realize that the shark that stops swimming dies. Also, just because the PC world is more chaotic on this front now, doesn’t mean that some great product can’t or won’t emerge out of that chaos. Apple should be moving just as fast as they are, if for no other reason to blunt the effect of anything emerging that actually might be any good.
Finally, as I’ve said before, this partnership with Intel will never live up to it’s potential unless and until Apple does leverage the only real strength (beyond manufacturing capacity) that Intel has – and that is multimedia hardware and content (negotiating deals for the same). These x86’d iMac and Mac Book products are nice upgrades, but are nothing that couldn’t have been done last year on PPC. PCIx, faster FSB, improved GPU, and serial ATA are all CPU agnostic, and have a major impact on overall system performance. Plus, Freescale has had a dual core G4, running at the same speed and using power just as efficiently for a while.
Apple is still winning the digital wars now, but prospects for the future depend on leveraging advantages and moving ahead. Macintel can do that in multimedia – it certainly does nothing better – so Apple needs to get off the pot and use it that way.
April 1st was conspiciously mentioned by Jobs at Macworld. I think we may have another “… just one more thing …” announcement on that date – one more focused on the multimedia future.
Macaday, right on, brother.
Cubert, wild rumors and wholly “inaccurate stories” about Apple may come from a preconceived notion of Apple’s ability and capacity to develop new and innovation technologies. These rumor mongers and ignoramuses are probably so overwhelmed by the mystique of Apple that objective reasoning is supplanted by uncontrolled giddiness of uninhibited expectation.
All the buzz at the local Apple store (friend=Apple employee) is much more about the enhancements to iLife. Anyone can easily make a webpage even if they are not using .Mac. Although a .Mac account makes publishing your creation with just one click. The other aps, such as iPhoto and iMovie, have major improvements. I don’t know how popular personal Podcasting is going to be (via GarageBand and iWeb), but the ability to easily do so is there if they want it.
No other set of aps, on ANY platform, come anywhere close to the versatility, ease of use and professional quality output that iLife does. Who else can produce such a suite of applications for just $79?
While it’d be nice if there were an upgrade version and discounted price, I have no problem paying $79 for all of these improvements.
Since I don’t do much with iWork (but still like it a lot), I can’t justify paying for a new version, but I can easily see someone paying for it if they enjoy making their co-workers, the ones struggling with PowerPoint, very envious.
I also like the new smaller software boxes (the size of an iPod nano box). Even if the current US administration doesn’t give a crap about the environment, I still do. The huge boxes that once had to hold a book inside are no longer practical and create unnecessary waste. Environmentally, being given the option to download the new versions would be a much better alternative for the planet.
My friend is quite upset with Apple because none of the staff has ANY info about the new products or applications. They had to watch the keynote and read the Apple website like everyone else in order to get trained. Often this was done on the employee’s own time. There are no training materials at all, no employee or store copies of the software (nothing to demo), or ANY support. A few employees (the store’s “Creatives”) BOUGHT copies of the software just to learn more about it. In many ways, the Apple staff is LESS knowledgeable than the general public. Apple is a good company, but their retail division is being run by ex-Gap managers and is extraordinarily un-Apple-like in ALL respects. That’s why I buy all of my Apple items on line. I do not like their stores unless I need a technician.
Regarding the DRM on Apple’s downloaded music:
It may have been the RIAA’s idea at first, but Apple will never give it up now. Why? Because its vendor lock-in. You have to use Apple technology now to play your music. This is why DRM is wrong. Its not about piracy. Its about control. If the RIAA had never made the stupid decision to force DRM on the downloaded music, Apple would have never achieved their marketshare. Why? Because I could have looked at any other online store for my music. Stores wouldn’t have been forced to use WMV since there wouldn’t have been a need for a DRM. We would probably be getting our downloads in a lossless format. The RIAA wanted it. Now they’ve got it. And we all are worse off for it.
Anyone still saying that Apple still needs to license out their stuff now?? Sure, MS made multi-billions
on ignorance and 3rd partys, but people forget that
the slow, complete solution, quality-minded, perservering turtle won the race and the hassle, incompatible, diseased, multi-brained rabbit went havoc.
History regarding MS will not be about their monetary success, but about how hard and fast they fell, along with their brown-nosed 3rd-party infected multitude.
What Apple does is to concentrate on the consumer, on the end user. They don’t come to geeky conclusions, producing products for geeks, but for people. (Not that geeks don’t love the products, too, because below the simple surface, they find complexity:)
Imagine if Apple had made a VCR! Hahaha!
Lots were disappointed that they didn’t come up with a home theatre solution this time, but I am quite convinced that it will come. It is just the kind of product which so far only exists in complex, hard-to-understand and hard-to-assemlbe and hard-to-use products, which Apple can take a closer look at and find a simple solution to. Click and go. Only it takes time and they never announce future products which aren’t ready to ship.
Considering the transition to Intel, they have their hands full, not forgetting that they have to continue developing the iPods.
If other companies would realize this; that they need to make simple and reliable, but it is not that easy, obviously…
“The conclusion: every media store will work a little differently, prices and plans will be wildly inconsistent and not everyone’s technology will be compatible.”
Reminds me of the Microsoft business plan.
Jeff,
The best, cheapest way to get music on your computer/player is from used CD’s. Any bit rate you want at a price of around $0.60 to $0.80 a tune. And once you have ripped the CD you could resell it and cut the per tune price to $ 0.20 or less.
Is it stealing? How would the labels ever know? I just know a lot of people are doing it this way.