I will be “live-claiming” my claim chowder during the event. Check back for updates.
- 128 GB iPod touch. ✘
- Goodbye, iPod classic. (See above.) ✘
- Wi-Fi syncing. ✘
- Nice knowing you, iPod shuffle. ✘
Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
They were going to do Wi-Fi syncing, (and re-write iTunes in cocoa), but they had to send the engineers off to work on Ping instead…
By Chucky · 2010.09.01 18:51
“I will be “live-claiming” my claim chowder during the event. Check back for updates.”
I didn’t make predictions on the iPod part of the event because I’m not mind-melded with the PMP market in the way I am with the video services market.
But here’s my theory on why you were wrong on the PMP stuff:
In the the PMP market, Apple right now is where Microsoft was in the desktop/laptop market 10 years ago. When you’re the market hegemon, you need to serve everyone. Product lines linger. Code-bases become difficult to tinker with.
In everything they do but PMP, Apple is one modern size fits all. But they follow different rules in PMP.
The one thing I was surprised about in the Apple TV section, (which was pretty much otherwise within my specs), was that they didn’t roll-out a seamless “everywhere” feature with their streaming store.
In other words, I expected them to have a feature where if you rented a movie via Apple video services, it would stream during the rental period on any of your iOS devices. Buy it anywhere, and you’ve got 48 hours (or whatever the time period is) to watch it anywhere.
I’m baffled why they didn’t see the importance of doing Amazon’s Whispersync for video. It seems to me that one of their few trump cards in the jungle market of video services is to leverage the hell out of the success of iOS devices, and they’re not doing that.
By Chucky · 2010.09.01 21:13
It’s not that I didn’t want them to continue catering to everyone.
But what if the nano was a little bit cheaper? I think they could pull off a $69, 2 GB iPod nano. That’d be a better iPod shuffle, and close enough to the $49 price point that most people would still get it.
And what if they really had fit 128 GB of flash into the iPod touch? They really did everything but axe the classic now. It didn’t even gain a mention, and they even said “update all iPods”. All. That’s gotta sting.
They could continue catering to the same crowd with new models of the two best products is my point.
By Jesper · 2010.09.01 22:13
“I think they could pull off a $69, 2 GB iPod nano. That’d be a better iPod shuffle, and close enough to the $49 price point that most people would still get it.”
There’s actually a market for folks who don’t want a “touch” interface. That niche must be catered to by a company that needs to hold a monopoly position in the segment.
“And what if they really had fit 128 GB of flash into the iPod touch?”
There’s actually a market for folks who want a hefty library to carry around, but don’t want to toss down a fortune for a disposable gizmo. (I know, because that’s a niche that I fit into.) Again, that niche must be catered to by a company that needs to hold a monopoly position in the segment.
It’s no fun to be the hegemon. Lots of power, but no fun.
It’s fashionable to hate on the Ballmer regime in Redmond, but I actually think monkey-boy has done a decent job with his inheritance. And I actually wish Steve-o would semi-retire and let a Ballmer clone come in and run the business he’s built. I don’t think Steve-o has been making good core strategic decisions since his transplant.
A sensible suit wouldn’t be ignoring OS X. It shouldn’t be a “truck”. It should be a performance sports car.
And a sensible suit would realize that this was the brief moment to shift Apple TV from a hobby to a semi-open platform with an iOS SDK that made itself compelling before the big boys arrive, which they very soon will. (Rupert only gave Steve-o the Fox TV shows because he wants favors for his print business on the iOS platform. One billionaire indulging another billionaire’s hobby in exchange for indulgence for his hobby.)
FWIW, I’d love Steve-o a whole lot more if he’d start showing up to keynotes wearing the exact same outfit, minus the footwear. Imagine how cool he’d have looked up there barefoot…
By Chucky · 2010.09.02 01:03