[HOM]

So yet once again we have a story about Apple vs Microsoft that tries to paint the picture that this is history repeating itself all over again.

OMG!!

Nothing really new in this piece over any of the other pieces from this genre except for a few choice quotes.

A few days after Apple's U2 extravaganza, Mr. Gates, Microsoft's chairman, paced around his office overlooking the rolling hills of suburban Seattle and recalled another advertisement that Apple made 25 years ago. "When I.B.M. came out with their PC, Apple ran an ad saying, "Welcome,' " said Mr. Gates. "They haven't yet run the ad welcoming us into the music business. "Apple should," he added.

Awwwww... Bill isn't feeling welcomed into the music biz.

The money quote:

"It is not an MP3 player; it is just an iPod, and it's only made by Apple," said Frank Sadowski, the head of Amazon.com's consumer electronics department. The proportion of Amazon.com customers who buy iPods continues to increase, he added.

This really sums up why Apple dominates the portable music industry. People don't want an MP3 player, they want an iPod. As long as people go into Best Buy, Circuit City, and anywhere else they can buy MP3 players and the clerk tells them that the latest iPod killer is not called an iPod Apple wins. Consumers don't know MP3 from WMA from my left nut, but they do know iPods and they want iPods.

[Luca]

Interesting thing about your second point... in order to sell any units at all, Apple's competitors have to sell their music players for the same as the iPod, but they have to pack a ton of features into them. My roommate bought a $300 20 GB iRiver player yesterday, and from a features standpoint it totally kills the iPod: color screen, 15 hour battery life, photo capability, line-in recording, FM radio, built in microphone, even movie playback if you use a special firmware patch (he showed me the "more cowbell" sketch last night). But the interface is nothing compared to the iPod. I was briefly tempted by it but for the money I'd rather have an iPod.

Hopefully the competition gets to the point where they have an actual PDA with a hard drive MP3 player built in. I love my PDA and I wouldn't want to live without it, but it sucks as an MP3 player. Given how popular the iPod is, they'd have to sell such a device for pretty cheap.

[DMBand0026]

Thanks for pointing out the article, but if you're going to post something that requires a username and password, please post the text of the entire article, or just steal stuff from appleinsider.

Username: appleinsider
Password: appleinsider

Edit: Even better, here's a link to the printable version of the article.

[Brad]

Interesting picture at the top of that article...

Sony gets Mary J. Blige.
Microsoft gets Queen Latifa (ripping an enormous fart).
Apple gets U2 (with free TV ad endorsements!).

Need I say more?

[psmith2.0]

Is it just me, or does Queen Latifah look like she's ripping an enormous fart which Gates, for some reason, finds unbelievably funny?



Look at the pic and see if you agree...

[Brad]

Too true! I was wondering why she had that sneer on her face!

[DMBand0026]

I'd hit it

[Barto]

Which one? Bono, Steve, Gates, or Latifah?

[Purgatos]

You know what... I'd already completely forgotten that Microsoft had entered the music industry.

They've just made that much of an impact...

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by Purgatos You know what... I'd already completely forgotten that Microsoft had entered the music industry. They've just made that much of an impact...

Me too, in all honesty. I had almost completely forgotten.

[BarracksSi]

Regarding the cartoony picture in the first post --

I can't help but think that it's showing Gates trying to hit Jobs with his weiner.

[DMBand0026]

Originally Posted by BarracksSi Regarding the cartoony picture in the first post -- I can't help but think that it's showing Gates trying to hit Jobs with his weiner.

Bill Gates is not a big black man. Contrary to popular belief

[onlyafterdark]