“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.