“It’s important to understand the three parts to Apple’s news in relationship to each other. It’s not just about a new movie section in the iTunes music store but new iPods/iTunes and a way to get content from iTunes to the largest screen in the home. They key to the announcement is understanding that there’s a seamless end to end experience for consumers for consuming digital content both within the home and outside the home. It also re-enforces the Apple vision of the universe with the PC serving as a hub for digital content in the home and it all works together seamlessly. The iPod/iPod are no longer only about music and that’s going to move the bar higher for new competitors from getting into the market,” JupiterResearch analyst Michael Gartenberg blogs.
Gartenberg covers:
• iTunes Movie Download Service
• iTV – “In a move that we haven’t seen from Apple in a long time, Apple pre-announced a product that they’re calling iTV. It’s not a set top box per say, but it is a small device with every type of digital input you’d want to get all your iTunes content to your TV set, including music and pictures. While Apple wouldn’t go into details about the wireless technology, they did confirm that this product is designed to work wirelessly and that they are taking the onus on them to make sure the home network works. That’s a pretty big responsibility but we’ll have to wait until Q1 of 2007 to see it working. The price point is $299, which is a bargain if it works as well as it demoed. In the short term, the iPod can still connect directly to TV sets using the dock feature but now there’s a more complete and elegant solution for getting content from iTunes to other places in the home.”
• New iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle
• iTunes 7
“Once again, Apple has shown the ability to refresh the line and keep things interesting. The new nano line looks amazing and the updated 5g iPod is more optimized for long form video. As for iTV, you really have to see the UI in action to get a sense of how seamless this works,” Gartenberg writes. “Bottom line, Apple has sold 60 million iPods to date with 1.5 Billion songs and 45 million videos. Once again they have revised their line with devices and services that will be hard for other players to match. Look for competitors to try and change the message but that’s not going to be easy in a market where the message is totally dominated by Apple. At the end of the day, there’s no reason to think the iPod will lose significant market share for the next 24 months. Also, it’s still early in terms of holiday announcements, we might yet hear another one or two things from Cupertino before the first frost hits in the East.”
Full article here.
Related articles:
Apple gives sneak peek of ‘iTV’ set-top box to debut Q1 2007 (with images) – September 12, 2006
Apple posts new iPod nano ad online – September 12, 2006
Apple’s QuickTime stream of Steve Jobs special event now live – September 12, 2006
Apple’s iTunes 7 installer shows ‘iTunes Phone Driver’ as greyed-out option – September 12, 2006
NFL and Apple team up to offer 2006 NFL game highlights via iTunes Store – September 12, 2006
Apple debuts iTunes 7 – September 12, 2006
Apple debuts new iPod in 30GB and 80GB with Hollywood movies, games and new lower price – September 12, 2006
Apple unveils new iPod shuffle: world’s smallest digital music player – September 12, 2006
Apple intros new iPod nano with new aluminum design in five colors and 24-hour battery life – September 12, 2006
