“Once known for defining the digital future but never fully capitalizing on it, Apple has been transformed into tech’s most influential hit-maker. More than 200,000 companies have signed on in the past year to create Apple-compatible products, a 26% increase from the year before. That includes software makers such as gamemaker Electronic Arts and corporate supplier VMware, drawn by Mac sales that are growing three times faster than the overall PC market,” Peter Burrows writes for BusinessWeek.
“A cottage industry of iPod accessories continues to blossom into something far more substantial. Consider that this year, some 70% of new U.S.-model cars have iPod connectors built in, and about 100,000 airline seats will have the same. And Apple’s online iTunes Music Store has become the world’s third-largest music retailer after Wal-Mart Stores and Best Buy,” Burrows writes.
“With the June 29 debut of the iPhone, Apple seems poised to extend its reach even further. A new flock of partners, from AT&T to Salesforce.com, is set to jump on the bandwagon for the slick phone/Web browser/music player/camera… Phone manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola, and carriers like Verizon, are waiting nervously to see if Apple can remake the U.S. cellular business by determining what services consumers get and leaving the carriers out of the loop,” Burrows writes.
“Spin it out a few years, and it’s not hard to see why many companies want to be on Apple’s side. iPhone buyers now sign up for an AT&T cellular package via iTunes. In the future, maybe they’ll also be able to sign up for all the broadband and data services needed to power their Macs, iPods, and future Apple products (can you say: ‘I want my Apple iHomeTheater?’) and make them work together. That would play to Apple’s strength—making the complex simple. ‘What you end up with is a kind of Apple archipelago—this cluster of islands in this big digital sea that are great places to hang out,’ says Silicon Valley futurist and consultant Paul Saffo,” Burrows writes.
“Apple is head and shoulders above others in making the actual machines you use to pull up Web pages, music, TV shows, movies, and soon, perhaps, phone conversations,” Burrows writes.
Much, much more in the full article here.
go Apple…. GO!!!
Hasn’t apple always been the one who has set the trends, ie they introduce new tech and then everyone (looking at you MS) goes me too and introduces their own copies?
Common sense, innovation, and forward thinking.
To me, that’s what drives the Apple engine, and why they’ve been so successful lately. Let’s hope it continues!
Amelio, Scully: I spit on your shoes! NEVER darken our doorways again!
Read an article awhile back that said Steve Jobs is worth $20 billion (American) to Apple, Inc. If I were that writer, I’d revise that opinion today to $50 billion, easily, over the next couple of years.
Now, if only I could get a Mac tower for less than $2,000 !!!
Apple, how a about a Core 2 Quad 6600 based machine !! Anything!? Come one! Most of us don’t have three grand to blow on a new computer! The Mac Pro’s are not selling well. What’s up with this?
Oh and, iPhone’s great. Yep, fine, but I’m getting as sick of hearing about it as some others. I need a computer. Not a namby pamby coffee shop accessory! I don’t have any desire to be seen with my Apple stuff at Starbucks.
lmao “Hasn’t apple always been the one who has set the trends, ie they introduce new tech and then everyone (looking at you MS) goes me too and introduces their own copies?” nice one dreil lmao. yeah its true, alot of applehaters either hate apple cause they dont know anything about it (not anymore they wont), or becuase thier still on windows and are in jealousy of all things mac and apple. happy mac-ing =)
Don’t forget Amelio was instrumental in bringing Mr Jobs back to Apple.
I’m going on vacation this summer to the Apple Archipelago. What a coincidence.
And don’t forget that Amelio brought Steve back to Apple because the company was on the verge of collapse from his and Scully’s mismanagement!
Randian: You left out Michael “What’s a Forecast?” Spindler.
“The Diesel” also tried and failed to get IBM, Sun Microsystems or Philips to buy Apple. Those were good failures.
Money line: “Now there’s a matchup worth watching: Steve Jobs vs. gravity”.
Apple archipelago!?! Doesn’t he know that it’s already called the “digital hub”?
Do you thin I’ll be able to use my SIM chip from my Cingular phone, or did Apple kill that concept.
The real culprits were Scully and Michael Spindler, especially the latter. Remember the 604-Performas, aka the paraplegic snails? Remember System 7.5 (aka the bomb)? The overpriced, slow 25th Anniversary Mac? Copland, Apple’s version of Vista? Those were times when even the faithful began to question their choice.
Amelio wasn’t so bad. Sure, he had no clue whatsoever of computers. But he created the financial basis for the surge of innovation that Steve initiated. When Amelio took over, he had to write off a landfill’s worth of Performas. Steve took over with 2 billion dollars cash available. That war chest prevented the looming takeover by Sony or some other conglomerate.
Also, the licensing of MacOS 7.6 brought Power Computing to life, which, after the takeover by Apple, was the seed for the Apple Store.
And then – lumiere! – Steve took over and brought back creative genius.
From the article:
Some already have rolled out cheaper products that, if not exactly as capable as the iPhone, may be close enough.
Will most consumers eventually choose to save money, even at the expense of a bit of elegance? History says they will
Bullcrap. The history of the iPod says just the opposite. How many cheaper, “almost-as-good” MP3 player were crushed under iPod’s heel. If that’s the cellphone makers’ response to iPhone, they’re heading for the same fate.
The Apple archipelago. I like this idea.
Microsoft can keep their vaunted “ecosystem” (read: jungle full of compatibility sinkholes).