From: Richard Kilpatrick (dmc12_at_btconnect.com)
Date: Sun Apr 18 2004 - 02:08:57 PDT
On 18 Apr 2004, at 08:04, Rod wrote:
> For a pda that was streets ahead of everything else around (and at the
> time
> there wasn't a lot), 5% doesn't seem to be a lot. And you can't
> compare it
> to Powermac sales. It would be like comparing iPod sales to Mac sales
> -
> they are different market segments. If Apple only had 5% of the MP3
> player
> market, the iPod would suffer the same fate as the Newton did.
Newton was too big, too expensive, too restricted. If Apple had gone
with the original concept it would have been twice as expensive, but a
truly groundbreaking product.
What is interesting is the "units shifted". Apple were shifting 2
million computers a year in 1997. Now they're shifting a fairly
consistent 750,000 per quarter. iPod is presumably as profitable as a
low-end computer, and certainly as profitable as a competitively-priced
Newton would be had development continued, and it's shifting more than
that.
I love iPod. It's saving Apple financially, but also, it's keeping
Apple in the public eye. Consumers may or may not care about the G5,
it's a monster-sized machine that is beautiful, but twice to three
times as much as a Dell which they will perceive as not being that much
slower - or even, faster, if all they go by is GHz. But iPod is cool.
If Apple's portable Firewire drive is this cool, what are their
computers like?
The next stage is for Jobs to learn from past mistakes. When MS release
their iPod clone, they must do two things, or have achieved one thing
and do one thing.
Whatever the specifications of the MS machine are, the iPod must
surpass them in at least 2/3rds. Capacity, ease of use, supported
formats (get the geek market, go for Ogg, or that new one - FLAC? - in
addition to the DRM friendly AAC etc). And either the iPod Mini must
have developed enough storage to compete on price, or the older iPod
should continue as a low-cost alternative. I think the first is
preferable; attain (assuming doubling in capacity) 16Gb storage in the
Mini for the same price, and 80Gb in the iPod with the existing premium
price structure, perhaps with colour (why? Why does iPod need colour?).
This leaves Apple with two iPod products, one competing on price and
desirability, one competing on specifications and innovation.
What I'd like to see is WiFi linking to my iTunes library. I'm
wondering if the Newton could do this with a WiFi card and an audio-out
from the interconnect port...
Richard
-- Tasty Other - Because Far Too Much in Life Makes Sense Music for download - coming soon (RIP MP3.com) G.A.S. http://www.dmc12.demon.co.uk/music/ Platform: PowerMac G5 2.0GHz Dual, 20" LCD, Logic, Hammerfall. -- This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/ WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
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