What's Next At Apple 368
pinqkandi writes "Business 2.0 is running a fascinating article on what might be coming up in Apple's future. Besides speculation, some interesting statistics are included, such as how the iPod should create equal revenue to the Mac for Apple in 2006, if not surpassing it. A good read for the Apple lover or loather."
EU? (Score:4, Insightful)
PVR is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Advertising (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally... (Score:5, Insightful)
A video iPod is completely plausible, especially if they bundle the xVid codec or some licensed variant of VLC with it - anime fanboys with money'll snap them right up to watch fansubs on the go (about 150MB an episode on average - take three or four series - at 26 episodes apiece - with you plus your tunes). The only concern might be battery life, and whether they would use a passive-matrix or active-matrix screen in addition to how the movies would get on there; presumably, iTunes would figure in, which would imply that it would eventually evolve into a video store in addition to a music venue.
This may not concern Apple directly, but especially in regards to yesterday's "World's Smallest Linux Box" story, with a few revisions to iPodLinux, it could be possible to use the iPod as a server (plug the Firewire cable into a Cisco switch; they have Firewire expansion cards). It would be interesting to see if Apple could develop software to turn the iPod into a NAS device as well, but an iPod server would just be a cool toy.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:PVR is... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why vPod won't succeed (Score:5, Insightful)
Whereas large numbers of people can imagine themselves using an iPod everyday and at many times of day, much fewer people can see themselves using a vPod and for much fewer hours per day.
Is piracy a barrier? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:PVR is... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Is piracy a barrier? (Score:5, Insightful)
That must be why iPods are never used for playing pirated music.
Re:Advertising (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Top 5 : What's Next At Apple (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Tightening the DRM noose (Score:2, Insightful)
with people attacking their DRM constantly (psymusique, hymm, etc), they have no choice but to tighten it more and more. yes, they could "loosen" their control, but i honestly believe they were able to find harmony between DRM and users rights with what they have in iTunes.
the real way to stick it to them if you don't agree with DRM is not to use/buy their product. no one's forcing people to buy from iTunes or to even buy an iPod. yet, people bitch and moan about Apple's DRM. the mainstream music industry will never let go of their control. at the same time, many users will not buy DRM. what's the solution? honestly, i think it means the music industry loses out on sales and the users lose out on content.
Re:EU? (Score:5, Insightful)
What apple should do next... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not having the ITMS in australia is almost certainly hurting iPod sales since people are more inclined to buy an MP3 player that works with the australian music services (which as far as I am aware all use Windows Media DRM) instead of an iPod which doesnt play any music you can legally buy from an online music store in australia.
If they can offer the ITMS to the US, the UK and all the other countries where it is offered, what is so !@#$#@!@# hard about offering it to us aussies?
Re:Top 5 : What's Next At Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
However, your point 3 take issue with do I:
3. Continuing victory of Form Over Function
On the contrary, there is a tremendous depth of functionality that I think we're only scratching the surface of with macs, that isn't even available on PCs.
Example: Applescript and iTunes.
Most OS X apps are to some extent scriptable, with every new release of iTunes its become more and more scriptable. I really do miss not having that degree of control over my music that I have at home. Such as being able to skip the long rambling monologue the 'artist' decided to record at the end of my favourite music track, or being able to tell it to play at a lower volume if I kick the script off after 10pm but before 6am.
I'm on holiday and I've recently had the 'privilege' of using a 'low end' PC (1+ Ghz) with both Linux off a CD (two different flavours of Knoppix), and XP. The winner for speed of browsing was DarnSmallLinux with Firefox...
But neither of them holds a candle to my 1Ghz eMac at home. And the reason isn't how pretty they are, or how fast they are (though OS X beats the undead crap out of both of them on that count), but rather the reason is that OS X provides a system wide scripting language.
Now I don't know if one or two M$ apps have their own scripting languages, I do remember programming the different flavours of VB for Applications (of which VB for Excel was hands down the best until they tried to make VBA more consistent, and hobbled it with a whole bunch of horrible syntax from Access' VBA).
And Linux being Linux, I suspect that each app has not just one, but *ten* different scripting languages! (But wait, there's more! Send no money now and you'll receive a full set of Ubuntu steak knives at no extra cost!) The problem is that they will be a different ten for the next app, and the next app.
Whereas with OS X because its the same scripting language across the apps, you can do a lot of funky things.
Also, although it looks like a 'form' thing, the massive amount of keyboard shortcuts, with an unusually high degree of consistency across all apps... is *actually* a 'function' thing. Why? Because some of those things which are obviously to do with 'form' speed you up... and increases in speed means higher productivity, and productivity is definitely a functionality thing.
I guess there is a high degree of developer B&D required to make it like that across most of the apps. XCode and Interface Builder help a lot though, firstly by providing you with a lot of that up front anyway, and you can enable most of the common stuff simply by control dragging from the menu item to the first responder and viola! just pick the appropriate method from first responder and it does what you'd expect.
You may think I'm a rabid Mac fan, but quite the opposite, I'm a raving Java fan, and for years I've believed that the operating system is (or should be) irrelevant.
Ironically, Java suffers from the same problem that Linux does when it comes to scripting - everybody and their dog have their own different ideas about how this should be done, so you end up with 50 squillion different implementations, most of which are utterly incompatible with each other.
As an aside, DarnSmallLinux was a lot nicer to work with than my previous experiences with Linux, which had all been excruciatingly painful. The thing which I most appreciated was that it 'just worked' out of the box (well, cd in this case). Sure some things didn't work very well (egs apps crashing after coming back from the screen saver kicking in) - so I wouldn't use it as a main system, but over all I was impressed with it (compared to the horrible experiences with RH 7 et al).
As for the Safari vs Firefox debate - I think Safari clearly wins on one point, if no other... that it is scriptable, and that scripting language is the one I can also use to script iTunes.
Re:Duplicate! (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually my friend just got a Mac, his first, and he actually likes the mac bashers. Thanks to them he is forced to learn about his computer because they constantly want him to look like a sub-tech with his Mac by asking rethorical questions and passing comments like the one in the parent, because he wants to answer those questions, because he wants to know if what they told him is true and he actually has been had and bought the wrong machine. Each and every time he comes back and laugh at all the bullshit he is told and feels good about himself, he finally understands computers...
The key to the iPod success is capacity (Score:3, Insightful)
Once you start having to delete songs to make room for other songs, you're into the realm of trying to predict what you'll want to listen to later. It's a much better user experience to just have it all with you. The interface and ID is nice, but the capacity is what really makes it convenient.
To replicate that in video is the next frontier. Jobs would need to convince the industry to allow him to build a device that decodes CSS and allows storage of movies on a HD. Then he would need to source huge-capacity drives at very low prices. Then he would need to squeeze it all into a stereo-rack-size component with great ID and a clean interface.
Imagine the convenience of having all your DVDs available at the touch of a button whenever you sit down on your couch. Even better, imagine having a nice clean easy-to-use interface to download DVDs (through the iTMS).
He is in a very good position to do it. He has a good record of protecting DRM for the music industry (or at least trying hard to). He is already a movie industry player. And he runs a studio, giving him a sympathetic connection to other studio heads trying to protect their movies. They're all in it together--he's one they can trust.
Downloading movies will be a much harder deal for several reasons. Obviously there is a bandwidth issue. But possibly worse, it is in direct competition with the on-demand services that many TV service providers are rolling out. Since cable modems outnumber DSL 2 to 1, a large portion of the delivery network would be under the control of what is essentially a competitor to the video iTMS. Plus, many DSL providers have long-running plans to offer TV over DSL. And Jobs does not have any existing or special relationships with network service providers. He would likely need to develop them to make it work.
Re:Is piracy a barrier? (Score:5, Insightful)
That must be because iPods are the most popular digital music players for accessing the most popular "legal" digital music store.
Re:Personally... (Score:5, Insightful)
Dude, have you not ever heard of QuickTime? Your statement makes zero sense in the scheme of things.
If people want to watch TV shows so bad on the go, why haven't pocket TVs been more popular?
Re:Next year - PlayStation 3 and Blue-Ray (Score:3, Insightful)
Now. . . If Apple were to produce something like a Mac Mini that had PS3 hardware built-in and used the PS3's GPU as its one-and-only display system, then the economics might add up. It could be manufactured cheaply.
Problem is, the software integration with Mac OS X would probably be a nightmare, and even if you could manage that, then you have to ask whether the PS3's display hardware would be suitable for general-purpose computer operations. (For example, do you really want to be limited to an ATSC 720p display on your computer?)
It's a shame, really. . . Because I think getting the PS3 functionality into Macs would be great, and finally addressing the Mac's shortcomings as a game machine would be terrific, but it just doesn't look practical from where I sit.
Re:Tightening the DRM noose (Score:5, Insightful)
> 4.7.1 only allows streaming to 5 unique users per day,
> it used to support any 5 simultaniuse users.
Yes, you are right - you can thank DVD Jon, and others, for that, for a) complaining about DRM (yet doing absolutely NOTHING about Windows DRM), and b) complaining that them hacking it is Apple's fault, for making it too easy.
Please, lay blame where it belongs, and it's not at Apple's feet!
Re:EU? (Score:2, Insightful)
Given that Apple themselves are currently the subject of anti-trust proceedings in the EU, I wouldn't be so sure.
They're being investigated over allegations of price-fixing in the iTunes store: they're charging 30% more per track in continental Europe than the USA, and 50% more in Britain.
Let's just say this is not a company I'm eager to business with. I'll consider it when they consider offering me a fair price.
Re:Duplicate! (Score:2, Insightful)
Seriously guys, shut up already.
Now some mac fanboy's gonna come along and mod this down anyway, in fear that other
Re:Tightening the DRM noose (Score:2, Insightful)
You are nuts. Sorry but it had to be said
a) complaining about DRM (yet doing absolutely NOTHING about Windows DRM),
WMV10 DRM is cracked. You need a valid license to remove the encryption but afaik it's the same with iTMS
and b) complaining that them hacking it is Apple's fault, for making it too easy. ...and then you're worried that Apple is forced to tighten their DRM (yet, still maintaining it as open for the consumer as they can)
But this doesn't make it any harder to crack. What Apple would need to do, is to improve the algorithm or method but they tightened the rule-set instead. That's something completely different. A more restrictive rule set doesn't improve the security of the drm in any way, it only pisses off users which helps DVD Jon.
Wow, by that measure... (Score:4, Insightful)
In fact what other players do let you share? They are all terrible!
Ban media players now!
Re:Top 5 : What's Next At Apple (Score:2, Insightful)
As for the Safari vs Firefox debate - I think Safari clearly wins on one point, if no other... that it is scriptable, and that scripting language is the one I can also use to script iTunes.
What percentage of the Mac user base actually uses Applescript with Safari on a regular basis? I just don't see how that is the dealbreaker in the Safari vs Firefox debate.
Obviously for you it makes a huge difference, but for most people that's not even useful. If anything Firefox wins because it's a lot easier to download and install extensions than it is to learn Applescript (for most people anyway). And they can probably do a lot of the same things you're doing with Applescript. For the general user, it would appear that Firefox can do more, if only because they don't know how to use Applescript (and probably don't want to) and just assume that the functionality isn't there.
Re:EU? (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe it has something to do with the UK not using the Euro like everyone else.
Maybe it is because of the higher cost of running a different store for each country.
If you think the price is to high the don't use it. There are plenty of M$ alternatives. Take your pick.
Re:Duplicate! (Score:2, Insightful)
one thing i did notice is that they assume that we think that apple invented the small form factor or that we think apple invented the motion detector for laptops etc. I would imagine that such pro-apple people exist but none of them are on slashdot. on the other hand the number of anti-apple people that go on and on about how apple users don't know about this or that is ridiculously high.
for what it's worth i think they have left the Finder behind from the rest of the OS and needs some genius inspiration to make it noteworthy
bye
Re:Top 5 : What's Next At Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just so stunningly wrong. The secret of Apples success is that they are devoted to the proposition that Form FOLLOWS function.
Whether form is considered or not by the person producing it technology products HAVE form. By NOT thinking about it at all most tech companies produce forms that don't relate well to function, get in the way or hide function. Certainly they don't produce forms that enhance function in any way. Ironically by ignoring form altogether they produce products that put "form over function"
On the few occasions that they consider form at all they think of it as something decorative, divorced from function and just make things worse.
An example: Look at Microsoft's approach to icons compared to Apple's. Apple popularized the GUI, and the use of icons. They thought about function first and then thought about forms to access those functions. They used icons where it made sense. I'm convinced that Microsoft looked at that success and without understanding it AT ALL decided to emulate it. But to Microsoft it boiled down to: "icons are pretty" and "I hear they make computers easier". As a result of that "thinking" they made EVERYTHING an icon. Rows upon rows of completely meaningless icons that don't help anything and make finding the function you seek an exercise in frustration. THAT is form over function, people just fail to recognize it as such because it manages to be UGLY as well.
Re:Tightening the DRM noose (Score:5, Insightful)
This is an interesting paradox I'm not sure the "hack to free the music" crowd has entirely thought through. You may feel that any DRM is too much DRM, and I respect that, but I may feel that a given DRM is livable enough for my purposes--like Apple's scheme for iTunes. I do own my music (unlike, say, Napster's subscription model), and I don't consider the restrictions on burning and sharing sufficiently onerous.
However, if you--in this case, "you" being "DVD Jon," or people with similar mindsets--decide that because you don't like that restriction, the proper response is not to simply avoid iTunes but to break iTunes' DRM, you put Apple in a position where they have to slap duct tape over the hole you've made. The chances are that the "duct tape" they're using makes their DRM scheme fractionally more restrictive. And if you keep at it, eventually Apple's countermeasures will leave me with a product which no longer meets my needs. You will at that point have forced me to either stop using the iTunes store, or to join you in the DRM arms race. Your attempts to "protect my freedom" will, from my point of view, have had the opposite effect.
I understand the philosophical objection to DRM, and I'd prefer it if the iTMS was closer to Magnatune (in both lack of restriction and choice of downloadable music formats). But I'm not convinced that monkeywrenching is the ideal response -- or ultimately, even a very good one.