“In spite of the massive success that Apple has enjoyed with its iPod line of portable music players, the company must still be feeling the pressure from the competition. Apple has filled a patent application on how future iPods will use wireless for electronic media purchasing online,” Susan J. Campbell writes for TMCnet.
Campbell writes, “This application filing occurs not too soon before the much-anticipated release of the Microsoft Zune. While this could be an effort to fight the software giant and its product directly, it should be noted that Zune’s built-in Wi-Fi will be limited to the file sharing between devices with no direct Internet purchases from the handheld.”
Campbell writes, “The events that have led to the filing of a patent application still remain unknown; however it should give an indication that Apple fears its dominance in the market is threatened. This is interesting given the reasons for the iPod’s success in the first place.”
Campbell writes, “Apple and its iPod didn’t earn its throne in the portable music player industry because it had the easiest to use player that offered the best song selection. This success also didn’t come because it offered the most competitive price. Apple has been able to dominate this market because of its marketing campaign, pure and simple.”
She keeps on writing in the full article here.
Can you believe these writers have what we assume are paying jobs? Apple has filed hundreds of iPod-related patents in order to protect their inventions, pure and simple. The “fear” is that some company will steal your invention. Obviously. Apple has filed so many wireless-related iPod patent application, that we don’t even know precisely which one Campbell is referencing (she does not provide a patent number or link). We assume Campbell’s talking about this iPod patent application. And, in order to have fear of the competition, it would be helpful to first have some credible competition to fear, Susan. We’re not going to bother recounting why iPod is successful, but its marketing, while formidable, is certainly and obviously not the only reason. TGIF.
Related articles: Search for “patent” at the bottom of any MacDailyNews page to see articles about iPod and other patents.
Is the washing up done yet?
Dumb broad.
What a Duh title. Can you think of any other possible reason to file a patent, besides fear of competition?
As if this is a negative thing. As Andy Grove said, only the paranoid survive. You don’t win in business by forgetting to fear competition.
This patent was filed on June 25th and just made public.
Corretction.. The patent was filed on June 23rd 2006. I believe that was before news of the Zune surfaced
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=2177
Apple did not only succeed because of a good ad campaign. If they had a great ad campaign, but a poor product, word would have spread and the iPod would not be holding 70%+ of the market today. The advertising was good, but the product was great. It was (and still is) far superior to everything else out there.
What ever happened to the patent for the ipod to share music. I remember seeing it a year or so ago that had someone that looked like they were on a ski slope and they had a ipod that was beaming its music to the other ipods. What comes of that patent. Will they get to sue Microsoft for it I wonder?
At work we examine everything we do looking for patentable elements. That’s just good business practice. Not FEAR!
PLEASE WRITE TO HER
susan.campbell@sbcglobal.net
…let her know that Apple filed this patent on June 23, 2006, which was several weeks before news of Zune and it’s wifi capabilities were ever announced.
The patent just became public this week, however, the filing date is clearly marked on the patent application..
OK, guys, I have a theory. And it goes like this…
Too many writers/IQ+not enough stories-facts=Zune
I used the accepted metaphor in the conclusion because I don’t like to say shit.
Also, I was gonna give her a clue, but after seeing her picture I became clueless…
Read the article, looked at her site.
No technology background, just looking for work. 🙁
She said “Apple and its iPod didn’t earn its throne in the portable music player industry because it had the easiest to use player that offered the best song selection…. Apple has been able to dominate this market because of its marketing campaign, pure and simple.”
My guess is that she does not have the technical capacity to use an iPod. LOL Goofball!!
“The company was able to strategically position its product in all the right places so that the iPod was the portable player of choice for the rich and famous…..”
iPods cost less than some running shoes. Again she punts on the 3 yard line.
“Apple did borrow a winning strategy from Microsoft (News – Alert) in keeping its technology proprietary. However, this strategy doesn’t seem to be enough to keep the fruity giant on top as consumers are beginning to tire of the iPod and iTunes restrictions.”
As I recall, MS changed and started using Apples idea of integrating services. 3 for 3, and she’s out of here.
N.
I wonder… is it the high school career counselors or the college entrance advisors that are leading all stupid ones by the hand down to the School of Journalism?
She’s a really good argument for keeping them barefoot and preganant in the kitchen, plus not letting them vote.
MDN TGIF… you got that right. I think Susan is in denial and she is drowning in it.
Hey Oops,
Compared with your comment she looks like Einstein. Crawl back into your cave.
As was expected S. Campbell’s bio is filled with generalities, nonspecific statements, and a list that describes an unimpressive history of professional expertise.
How can one author be so wrong on so much in just one article. Staggering. Someone should tell her that if you’re going to do a hit piece on a product, you need to be more subtle to maintain a modicum of verisimilitude.
Secondly…. Most successful companies have one general trait: They are ALWAYS afraid. Afraid of competition. Afraid that they are working fast or smart enough. Afraid of dissappointing customers and investors. It’s the fear that keeps them sharp and makes them successful. We all know that his Steveness never is content that an Apple product is “good-enough”.
Oops, what exactly is “preganant”?
All this patent filing is at least partially due to lawsuits related to ridiculous patents that were issued by the U.S. Patent Office. We have to get away from patents on one-click purchasing (it’s called a sequence of events related to an action and some stored user data) and a hierarchical menu system for viewing and selecting music on a computer or portable electronic device (it’s called a menu, been around for years).
The defense against this patent cr@p is apparently to file your own patent cr@p.
“Preganant” n. a pregnant revenant, aka a zombie bride, or, alternately, in this quasi-post-feminist era, a zombie single mother.
What a silly twit!
She gets spondulicks for this diarrhoea?
Take a logic course, lady. What a heapin’ load of non-sequiturs.
Madam,
you’re a fool!
Hey, I live in a cave. But it has a large entrance, so I don’t have to crawl. But my knuckles still drag the ground, darn it.