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iPhone Hangs Up On Leopard Development
Electronics | Apr 26, 07
In other news of Cupertino, Apple reportedly pulled developers off its new Mac operating system in order to finish development of the iPhone. That new version of OS X, code-named "Leopard" (presumably using the predatory cat moniker to distinguish it from Windows Vista, formerly code-named "Longhorn" as in the cud-chewing bovine) is thus said to have had its release date pushed back to October.
Missed OS launch dates might bring to mind the travails of Vista, whose oft-delayed birth may have foreshadowed a somewhat troubled youth, albeit with decent, if discounted, sales (see "Vista And The Vox Populi," "Vista Achieves Touted "Wow" Effect, Albeit Through Massive Price Drop," and "So I'll Take Vista, And Guess I'll Need More RAM, And Some New Peripherals – Aw, Just Give Me A New System…" ). And indeed, as a colleague of mine quipped, letting the world know all your programmers are preoccupied with what may well be the hottest new product of the coming months would be great cover for slipping the target date on a bug-plagued OS. The iPhone is reported to be slated for release in late June.
However, Apple is in a very different position then Microsoft when it comes to the next generation of its operating system. In a sense, Jobs & Co. are blessed with the strength of the weak, in that Apple's low single digit slice of the market represents a relatively closed ecosystem of peripherals and applications. This make issues of back-compatibility far more tractable, with fewer third parties to accommodate. And if Apple decides not to support a particular legacy technology under the new regime, well, the firm's loyalists have learned to live with some adversity as the price of the Mac's elegance. Indeed, older Mac zealots were hardened under harsher conditions, before web browsing and internet applications indifferent to one's operating system made OS selection less critical. And, of course, it's not like the competition is free of back-compatibility issues.
But the decision to put what seems like maximal effort and resources behind the iPhone may signal the strategic importance of the new product. If Apple is for real in stepping away from digital rights management ("So The Whole Digital Rights Fight Is Over A Lousy Thirty Cents?") and if it is successful in persuading content providers to follow its lead, then a great deal of emphasis is placed on the quality of the Apple hardware/software experience. Further, and in contrast to the firm's paltry OS market share (compared to Windows), the firm enjoys a commanding lead in portable music players. If they can leverage that position into dominance in computing-enabled wireless communication devices, Apple could present a competitive threat to cell phone makers, Blackberry and the already challenged Palm. Indeed, with Mac sales already rising faster than those of the overall PC industry, it's not beyond imagination that an iPhone with Mac OS might produce a stronger catalytic effect on the acceptance of Apple's operating system that the current iPod line has generated.
Of course, it's all in the execution, and for all the difficulty of making the iPhone live up to expectations, it's still possible that it's just a lot easier to turn an iPod into a phone than it is to debug Leopard.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 10:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
So The Whole Digital Rights Fight Is Over A Lousy Thirty Cents?
Electronics | Apr 23, 07
That's one way of looking at the deal Apple and EMI group recently announced, in which the latter will allow distribution of its music by the iTunes store without Apple's FairPlay or any other digital rights management (DRM) measures. The DRM–free tunes will go for $1.29 per download, a premium of three dimes over the standard $0.99 for a DRM-laden track. Full albums will be sold for the same price as before.
So for an extra $0.30, you get a download that will lack any copy-prevention feature and is said to be playable on most non-iPod players and non-Mac computers. The music is sold in AAC format encoded at 256 Kbps, double the rate of previous iTunes (though this is still far "lower res" than either standard CDs or Audio-DVD).
To be sure, not all of EMI's catalogue may be available under the arrangement (EMI's Beatles tracks will not be included, for example), nor is it clear if other labels will follow suit and cut similar deals with Apple or other download stores (EMI is said to intend to distribute DRM-free through other e-tailers besides iTunes). But this does appear to be a step in the direction I called for in February of this year, in which Apple would offer to sell without DRM for any label or independent artist desiring such distribution (see "How Steve Jobs Could Show He's Sincere About Eliminating DRM"). The initiative also demonstrates Apple's faith in the excellence of its Mac and iPod designs and in the security of the market position of the iTunes store.
Yet perhaps most interesting of all is the fact that this transaction begins the process of pricing the elimination of digital rights management. The thirty cent price tag may represent an acknowledgment by both Apple and EMI um, that the technical and legal environments don't bode well for the long-term elimination of copying and file sharing. Then again, the seemingly modest DRM-free track premium may be telling us something else. It may just be that the level of interest in a lot of the music out there is so low that you practically have to pay someone to share it with a friend. After all, what does the zero premium for a DRM-free album say about the value of the "non-hot" tracks, and the likelihood that anyone would care to share them?
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 4:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Vista And The Vox Populi
Computers | Apr 12, 07
When it comes to its new operating system, it seems Microsoft just isn't feeling the love. A recent Harris Poll showed that the number of consumers intending to wait to purchase Windows Vista increased to 67% last month, from 31% in December 2006.
Why the tepid level of enthusiasm? A plethora of issues confront Redmond's new release, including driver and legacy application compatibility, hardware requirements for upgrade ("So I'll Take Vista, And Guess I'll Need More RAM, And Some New Peripherals – Aw, Just Give Me A New System…"), and what some call a lack of "Wow!" factor in Vista's feature set. This complex of factors may have something to do with the notably early and sharp price drop in the top of the line Vista Ultimate that I noted some weeks ago ("Vista Achieves Touted "Wow" Effect, Albeit Through Massive Price Drop"). Slower Vista acceptance is tough news for PC makers as well, since a new OS has traditionally been a key driver in promoting the purchase of new hardware. We're seeing some fairly aggressive markdowns in system prices right now, for both XP and Vista-equipped machines. Thus, what may be a challenging environment for Gates & Co.'s new offering could give consumers a break on notebook and desktop purchases as we move into the traditional Mother's Day/Father's Day/Graduation gift-giving period.
Just remember to warn Mom, Dad or the kid that the first Vista service pack hasn't been released yet.
Posted by jeffrey.trester at 9:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
