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Apple Businesses

Re-Imagining Apple 541

Posted by Zonk from the later-this-year-from-the-orange-company dept.
FirienFirien writes "Business 2.0 has put up a selection of ideas from Pentagram Design, featuring some interesting rumoured ipod innovations, as well as a look at what may be next for Apple. From the article: 'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'"
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Re-Imagining Apple More

Re-Imagining Apple

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  • An interesting set of designs (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:16PM (#12037383)
    An interesting set of designs, but ones that show that non-steve-approved designers just don't get it.

    Those products all look like any old generic electronics product. They entirely lack the current Apple design features of absolute minimalism.

    If steve could create a sphere with one single button on the outside, that glowed, and had any realistic expectation that it might sell, he would.

    (and the button would be optional)

  • How's that again? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:16PM (#12037386)
    'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'

    Perhaps that should read "... chief designer from 1989 to 1996, a period where Apple saw its market share drop to near irrelevance".

    Weren't these the same people Steve Jobs saved Apple from?

    • Re:How's that again? (Score:3, Informative)

      by four2five ( 645777 )
      I think it was more this man:
      http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/gil.shtml
      Silly gil.....

    • Re:How's that again? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Otter ( 3800 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:27PM (#12037527) Journal
      As a Performa 636CD owner, I must take exception to that! Could a computer that made me a plaintiff in three separate class-action suits be poorly designed?

    • Re:How's that again? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by n1ywb ( 555767 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:28PM (#12037531) Homepage Journal
      The PowerBook series set the standard for laptop computer design. They were terrific feats of industrial design. And the rest of Apple's products were usually pretty good that standpoint as well. The bad old days were not the result of poor industrial design. Poor price/performance, a crashy and rapidly deprecating OS, and crappy developer programs probably had a lot more to do with it.
    • Perhaps that should read "... chief designer from 1989 to 1996, a period where Apple saw its market share drop to near irrelevance".

      Weren't these the same people Steve Jobs saved Apple from?

      This is certainly a valid point, but it is essentially a 'red herring'. It's not the design of the machines that was responsible for Apple's fall in market share. On the contrary, the exempalry design kept the market share from falling further.

      Apple's low market share is primarily due to its high price and relative

      • Re:How's that again? (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Ohreally_factor ( 593551 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:27PM (#12038258) Journal
        Rather than focus on the points I disagree with, I'll address a point that I do, more or less, agree with. And I'd like to formulate it in a different way, so as to provide some insight for you. You said"

        For some reason known only to them, Apple chooses to have only a tiny market share of the PC industry. They are certainly smart enough to redefine the industry on their terms.

        The way I would put it makes the reason a bit more obvious:

        Apple chooses not to compete with Dell and the other commodity box makers in the commodity box market. They've chosen to compete with Dell on their own terms, by redefining the industry more than once.

        Maybe you meant to say that. The ideas are certainly there in your post.

    • Re:How's that again? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by soft_guy ( 534437 )
      Yes. It would be like reading an article in which Spindler, Sculley, and Amelio describe their ideas for managing Apple and new strategic ideas that they might pursue.

  • Apple is rolling (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DoctoRoR ( 865873 ) * on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:18PM (#12037403) Homepage

    Apple is the new Sony. Their iPod is this generation's walkman, and Apple is smart enough to leverage that success into other products. Apple has always been good at design. The unix-core of the Tiger OS extends that nice design into the innards.

    More food for thought: Paul Graham's essay on Japan vs US design [paulgraham.com], which gives a nod to Apple as one of the few US companies that get it.

    • I think you are right for the most part, but there is something you say -- that a lot of people say -- that I think misses the point. The iPod may be this generation's walkman, but it is so much bigger for Apple than a "walkman" would be. THe important thing about the iPod is that without a computer it is a big paper weight. The walkman could survive with tapes and radio transmissions, it had no need for an external interface. The iPod requires this external support and that's why it is having a such a

  • Is it just me... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jberkom ( 802463 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:18PM (#12037409)
    ...or are those designs really, really ugly? They bear hardly any resemblance to real Apple products. I'm guessing that's due to the fact that style-man Jobs became CEO in 1997, by which time this designer was gone.

    • Re:Is it just me... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by jdog1016 ( 703094 )
      No, it's not just you. They are ugly. And what's with there being an iPod clickwheel on devices that aren't iPods, or even music players. Somehow I don't think that the clickwheel is an appropriate interface for a phone... But Apple knows this and wouldn't design such uninspired products.

    • Re:Is it just me... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by kitzilla ( 266382 )
      I'm not sure they're as ugly as they are un-Apple. They look like Sony products to me: lots of black and shiny, flat surfaces.

      Then again, there's Dashboard. Its aesthetics represent a sharp departure from what I think of as Mac design.

      This is from someone still puzzling Apple's fascination with brushed metal within OS X. Here's hoping for some modernized version of Aqua, applied everywhere it makes sense.

  • a music revolution.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by bizmark22 ( 823743 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:19PM (#12037419)
    i vote for a new ipod, that not only has no screen, and less storage space, but also no controls at all.. it holds 5 songs, just turns on and off at will, and plays whatever the hell it wants at random...

    but damn it would be the same size as a chiclet and only cost $75...

    Mines on preorder as we speak...

  • What will Apple do next? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 ) <DancinSanta@gmail.com> on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:19PM (#12037422) Journal
    I don't know what Steve's got up his sleeve, but I know that Business 2.0 doesn't like giving out their stuff for free.

    The page you requested is available only to magazine customers and AOL members. Subscribe now and you're in...

    I guess that's kind of what Steve Jobs meant when he said they "just don't get it." Steve isn't the type of guy to go around giving stuff away for free willy nilly. In fact, he's built up Apple from relative obscurity to the powerhouse PC juggernaut it is today. But when he sees an opportunity, he goes for it. And sometimes that opportunity is to build a stronger brand through giving stuff away for free. He seems to be criticizing the RIAA's tactics of suing their customers, when they should be kissing their asses.

    I'm not saying that Steve Jobs should be on his knees kissing anyone's ass, but it is quite obvious that he has a knack for reading the market and "knowing" what people instinctively want.

    • Re:What will Apple do next? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Sentry21 ( 8183 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:54PM (#12038584) Journal

      I think there are a few key things that has made Steve Jobs' term at Apple a success:

      1. He does whatever he wants - no one is willing to say no to him. Some people follow him out of respect, the rest give in because of fear, but the result is that he gets what he wants
      2. He isn't in marketing - he's not sitting there asking twenty-person focus groups 'what would you want an MP3 player to do?' and then implement it all. He decides what HE wants, and makes everyone around him want it, which spreads swiftly.
      3. Reality is no barrier - the famed Reality Distortion Field has been proven by reams of empirical data. Otherwise rational people will listen to, accept, and eventually evangelize things that have no basis in any real or imagined universe. Steve Jobs can tell you the sky is neon green, and you'll believe him. It won't be too long before you think, 'You know, I think the ocean should be neon green as well,' and eventually people will be selling $800 crystal bottles for you to put your neon green ocean water into.
      4. He's eccentric - just because conventional wisdom says something doesn't mean that he'll listen. He's willing to abandon caution to the wind and go with what feels right - something that people are too afraid to do these days, especially with shareholders breathing down your neck.
      5. He's arrogant - He's right. He knows he's right. You know he's arrogant, but you're too afraid to tell him he's wrong, so you just stay quiet and listen, and eventually, you too realize he's right. He's not afraid to tell you what he thinks, and he doesn't care what you think about it - in the end, you know it's not personal, that's just the way it is.

      Generally speaking, all of this boils down to one simple summary: Steve Jobs does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and when he does, he makes you want it too, regardless of the reality of the situation.

      • Re:What will Apple do next? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by GlassHeart ( 579618 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @04:36PM (#12039740) Journal
        0. He's often right.

        Do you imagine for a second that a public company would tolerate a CEO who "does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and when he does, he makes you want it too, regardless of the reality of the situation" if he wasn't making them as much money as they've ever seen?

        Now, leaving everything in the hands of such a person is inherently risky. They are capable of great success because they can brush aside all opposition, but they are also capable of spectacular failures for the same reason. But Steve Jobs is a success today mainly because he made Apple build and sell what people want to buy.

  • PodWatch (Score:2, Interesting)

    by eric_brissette ( 778634 )
    Man, that PodWatch looks badass. I'd love to have something like that.. except that I KNOW I'd lose the wireless earbuds in a matter of hours.

  • Pentagram wanting to get bought...? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tquinlan ( 868483 ) <tomNO@SPAMthomasquinlan.com> on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:20PM (#12037438) Homepage
    This looks to me like Pentagram is trying to get themselves bought, by showing off that they are good designers and might be a worthwhile acquisition for Apple.

  • What Wonderful Credentials (Score:5, Funny)

    by Witchblade ( 9771 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:20PM (#12037439) Homepage
    'The project was led by Robert Brunner, who was Apple's chief designer from 1989 to 1996, and who oversaw the design of the PowerBook line, among many other hit products.'"

    He must be a design genius- 89-96 were such wonderful years for Apple!

    • Re:What Wonderful Credentials (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Bob Brunner is an excellent designer, one of the top in the industry; so was his team. Many others in the field of industrial design would agree. The problem was that Sculley, Spindler, Amelio, and the horde of suits they gathered around them failed to appreciate good design, believing beauty had no place in computing (much like Slashdotters, I would point out). Apple's ID team, hobbled though it was by the fact that their best work never saw the light of day outside Apple, still managed to win numerous des
    • It was management that nearly drove Apple under. It was products like the PB which helped keep Apple afloat.

  • iSatan (Score:5, Funny)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:21PM (#12037451) Homepage Journal
    Pentagram, Apple... they really do like the "Devil's advocate" trappings over in Cupertino.

  • Re-Imaging Apple? (Score:5, Funny)

    by bbeebe ( 661968 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:22PM (#12037464)
    Be sure to make a backup first...

  • Steve Jobs Photo? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MudButt ( 853616 )
    Is this [business2.com] supposed to be a photo of Steve Jobs in 10 years? If so, they did a pretty good job!

  • To boldly go... (Score:3, Funny)

    by writermike ( 57327 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:22PM (#12037472)
    Wow!

    Ipicture 4 of 5, it looks like the aged Steve Jobs is wearing a Science Division Starfleet uniform from Star Trek IV?

    Ooh, this is gonna be GREAT!
  • I think that the iPod could be the spring board for a whole new kind of human factor design.

    The mock-ups are just that, and some of the technology isn't there yet, but since Apple is a brand that people associate with 'expensive but insanely great' products in their niche, like B&O speakers, it might behove them to roll out a line of niche, low volume products like these (rather like, but in a smarter way, than they did the Mac Cube.)

  • 1989-1996 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:23PM (#12037476)
    Ahhh, yes, the prime era of Apple. Is this guy responsible for the wonderful internal design of the 8500 and 9500? (note: you had to essentially dismantle the entire machine to add RAM)

  • Here's the newest Apple hit (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Forget this website, take a look at what Apple really has up its sleeves:

    http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/images/iProduct.g if

    You've heard it here first and the best thing is, Apple can't even sue me into oblivion as I'm posting anonymous.

  • Too Bad you Have to pay (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Kagato ( 116051 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:24PM (#12037487)
    So is this a plant from Business 2.0? The pictures are free, but the article wants money.

  • Paid reg? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by PxM ( 855264 )
    NYTimes is just annoying enough, but it would be nice for Slashdot to not link to paid registration articles. However, the 5 pics from the image gallery were pretty sweet. Personally, I like this [business2.com] idea. Not so much as an iPod, but as a multiGB HD system that I could easily use with my PDA, cellphone, or camera via Bluetooth rather than the limited 1GB/$99 flash sticks with their own fucking readers that no one else uses. Thus a photo on my camera is automatically dumped to my iPod if it's in range via BT and

  • Really out of the box thinking? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by techstar25 ( 556988 ) <techstar25.gmail@com> on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:25PM (#12037494) Journal
    I'm not so sure these are really all that creative...
    We have the
    iPod Wristwatch
    iPod Wireless
    iPod Camera
    iPod Media Server
    iPod Wireless home phone
    How about something new guys? I don't mean to troll, but if this is the most creative you can be then this company is going downhill fast. Whatever happened to the Apple that had all those great new ideas?

    • Re:Really out of the box thinking? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by FunWithHeadlines ( 644929 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:34PM (#12037595) Homepage
      "Whatever happened to the Apple that had all those great new ideas?"

      They're still coming up with great new ideas. In the meantime, we have this article under discussion involving ideas from people who do NOT work at Apple, so why are you complaining about Apple?

    • How about something new guys? I don't mean to troll, but if this is the most creative you can be then this company is going downhill fast. Whatever happened to the Apple that had all those great new ideas?

      um... the design firm is not affiliated with Apple. It was hired by Business 2.0 magazine to present the "ideas".

      Well, the firm was working for Apple from 89-96, when Apple did go downhill fast. Now we know why.
    • I don't mean to troll, but if this is the most creative you can be then this company is going downhill fast. Whatever happened to the Apple that had all those great new ideas?

      ...and yet people wonder why Apple is so anal retentive about less elegant copycat products. These aren't even real products and Apple is already taking the blame for them!

  • Steve Jobs, great instincts (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fox_1 ( 128616 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:26PM (#12037507)
    Steve Jobs meets Dean Kamen [hbs.edu]

    Anybody remember this? Dood has a great natural feel for products.

    • It's interesting to note, with hindsight, what Jobs' criticism of the Segway were, and how accurate he was with many of them.

      "You'll only get one shot at this..."

    • Re:Steve Jobs, great instincts (Score:4, Insightful)

      by jfengel ( 409917 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @03:07PM (#12038757) Homepage Journal
      That is interesting, though I'm not sure he nailed the reason why Segway failed. He never mentioned the price. If it were free they'd be all over the place; they're at least as cool as an iPod even without more funky design. As far as I can tell it was too expensive for what it provided. I just can't imagine enough places to take it.

      Who knows? Maybe if it had been designed more innovatively it would have caught more eyes than it did. Certainly if they'd taken his manufacturing suggestions it would have been cheaper, and that might have been sufficient (though I can't imagine knocking off the factor of 5 to 10 that would have been required).

      Ultimately I've got to give him props for the crucial observation that it simply wasn't the right thing: "You don't have a great product yet!" Well, it would have been great for free, in the Jobs definition of "insanely great", even without more style. But he was clearly righter than everybody else in the room.

      Thanks for the link.
      • The Segway failed because Kamen is a moron. He's a great inventor, but a pathetic businessman. He was trying to micromanage his company, while being extremely niggardly about the cash. Because of this the company lost a CEO every year on average. There was practically no marketing done before the prodcut launch because of Kamen's paranoid fears that Honda would steal the idea if anyone knew what IT was.

        Read "Code Name Ginger" for the straight dope on why Segway failed. It was a brilliant product with a poo

  • A list of possibilities for the product name (Score:5, Funny)

    by product byproduct ( 628318 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:26PM (#12037515)
    sed s/^/i/ /usr/share/dict/words

  • The next big thing... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bsdparasite ( 569618 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:27PM (#12037520)
    I'll tell you why these are not even close to what may come out of Apple.

    Simplicity. I don't think Apple is in the game of mixing functionalities (I think Sony is a better contender for that). That is why there is no FM tuner in iPods.

    Watch that plays music? No one wants to do anything except keep time using their watch. I mean no one sensible.
    • I think we may reasonably see FM tuners on iPods. My iRiver has one, but of course, like everything else on my iRiver, I have to use this multidirectional tiny button to browse around to get to it (I bought it for the open standards it supports).

      I think if Apple could keep a straight, uncluttered interface they would support an FM (or XM, or Sirius) tuner.

      I'd like my watch to do a ton of other things- but the "it has to be a watch" comes first. So a calculator would distract from that terribly (bunch o
    • That is why there is no FM tuner in iPods.

      That's okay, I only listen to AM radio anyhow.

      <rant>So why isn't there an AM tuner in iPods?!?!?!! I'm not going to ever buy one until they include an AM tuner!!!!1!!1!!@@!!one!!!</rant>

  • Missing the point (Score:5, Insightful)

    by legLess ( 127550 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:31PM (#12037566) Journal
    These folks have done some cool work, but they're totally missing the point. Steve Jobs would rather shave with a cheese grater than let these things out into the wild with an Apple logo on them. Take one look at any of these gadgets and my first reaction is, "Huh, I bet that does a lot of cool stuff." But I'm a geek, and these designs are by geeks for geeks, and that's exactly what Apple is trying to avoid.

    That silly-looking wirless iPod necklace thing -- what's with the bevelled see-through skeleton around it? How does that make it work better? The skeleton around the iPodWatch -- what does it add?

    Apple succeeds because they hide the complexity, not because they call attention to it. Flashy complicated designs advertise internal complexity. While a geek sees power in complexity, most people see added cognitive burden. "Oh, shit, I bet that thing has a million features that I'll never figure out."

    • Re:Missing the point (Score:5, Insightful)

      by omicronish ( 750174 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:51PM (#12037805)

      Apple succeeds because they hide the complexity, not because they call attention to it. Flashy complicated designs advertise internal complexity. While a geek sees power in complexity, most people see added cognitive burden. "Oh, shit, I bet that thing has a million features that I'll never figure out."

      You've hit the point exactly. I'm a PC user for various reasons, but I drool everytime I see a nice, simple, and clean design from Apple. It's pleasing on the eyes and pleasing on the mind, and I wish a PC manufacturer would realize this and just make a laptop or PC without all these little edges, buttons, and colors.

    • Take one look at any of these gadgets and my first reaction is, "Huh, I bet that does a lot of cool stuff."

      Funny, my first reaction is, "Yeah, right..." (sarcastically)

      I mean, there designs are fine, I guess-- at least ok. But the idea of putting an iPod into a watch like that? That's not innovative. Figuring out how to make one that's light and easy to wear, has a reasonable amount of memory, bluetooth, a nice color screen, a convenient interface to your computer, and a price tag under $500-- that wou

  • Digital Country Club? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MisterSquid ( 231834 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:32PM (#12037580)

    Someone should string FirienFirien and Zonk up by their editorial tonsils. We can't RTFA unless we shell out money. There is no option to register for free or view advertising in exchange for a subscription. Since when did Slashdot becaome a digital country club where one has no option but to pay to play? Oh, I forgot. 90% of Slashdot doesn't ever bother to RTFA.

    That said, I think the most interesting element about this article (of which I could read two paragraphs in addition to its headline) is that a major business news publication is engaging in rumor-mongering just like the fan-based Apple sites. It looks like even the mainstream media has begun imbibing Jobs' Purple Kool-Aid.

    Not that I'm complaining. (Just check out mistersquid's profile on http://discussions.info.apple.com/ [apple.com] if you don't believe me). I just find it interesting that mood of Apple's fan-base is starting to be reflected in major media channels.

  • Apple sues Business 2.0 for spreading rumours about Apple products.

  • Imagine... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CrazyTalk ( 662055 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:36PM (#12037623)
    If Apple actually sold computers again. Seriously, they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics companies and selling computers are becoming more and more of an afterthought.

    • Get a clue (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Locke2005 ( 849178 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:55PM (#12037847)
      they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics company And so are Dell and Gateway... hmm, I wonder why? Could it be that computers are now commodities with razor-thin profit margins, while consumer electronics can still be sold for several times their actual worth? Business is all about margins, and you don't get good margins by competing directly with Asian manufacturers. Someday even HP might figure that out...

    • Apple computer shipments are actually on the rise (Score:5, Informative)

      by chia_monkey ( 593501 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:19PM (#12038181) Journal
      "If Apple actually sold computers again. Seriously, they are rapidly turning into a consumer electronics companies and selling computers are becoming more and more of an afterthought."

      Turning into a consumer electronics company? If you recall, way back when Steve introduced iTunes to the masses, his plan was to make people want the iPod, which would make people want Macs. His plan is working perfectly. While other PC companies are predicted to have slowdowns in units shipped, Apple is actually expected to sell MORE computers in the near future. Not only is Apple selling computers...they are selling MORE computers than before. Making a nice chunk of profit from the product that is helping the computer-base grow is simply gravy.

  • The only thing I liked (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dark Paladin ( 116525 ) * <jhummel&johnhummel,net> on Thursday March 24, 2005 @01:56PM (#12037866) Homepage
    Was the iPhone and maybe the video iPod, though I think the flap idea is just bad.

    For a movie iPod, take the current device, make the screen longer for 16x9. Now if you want to watch a movie, turn it on its side and use the wheel to move forward or back.

    For the iPhone, let you side the top half sideways so you could hold the phone while revealing a keypad - great for finding/entering contact information, notes, text messaging, etc.

    But I'm not sold that Apple will go this route. I think they see the iPod as a hub to the computer - insert music into computer, get music onto iPod. Insert movies onto computer, get DVD's or (in time) movies onto the iPod. Record messages to the iPod, and back to the computer.

    So most - if not all - of what they do is still geared towards the computer. And I think most people in this generation can live with that.

    Extend the idea further. Apple is using the iPod as a hub of its own - recording messages, storing contacts, etc. I can see a time when you buy a digital iCamera, and instead of accepting tapes it just uses an iPod for storage. Plug it into the digital camera or camcorder, take your pictures (with 4,000 picture storage space at incredibly high quality, or with 40 GB of storage space, that's what - around 40 hours of video at MPEG-4 for normal TV rates, different for HDTV? I'm just guessing, so I'm sure someone who knows more about video compression will know).

    Cars, like GM, are making "iPod plugs" so you can charge up. Look at the third party iPod market - at least 3 manufacturers are creating car stereos to let you view and select playlists from your iPod.

    Expect to see the iPod become more of a "hub" in this fashion - and, of course, still come back to the PC. Maybe it will get Bluetooth in the future so can "walk into the house, sync and go". But several of the ideas (such as the "Wireless iPod you hang around your neck") won't happen because doesn't use the computer as a hub - but as a streamer. Apple knows people want to sync and go.

    One last thought - the one thing that I'd like to see in future versions of iTunes is a group/family system. I have music, my wife has music, my kids have music, all shared on a Mac Mini. I have a family user just for that reason, but I can see the first time my daughter does a User Switch to herself and doesn't unplug Daddy's iPod, then starts putting *her* music onto just her user - now duplicating storage.

    I'd like to see a version of iTunes which takes this into account, and lets you say "I'm a member of an iTunes share - point me here". Granted, there is the DRM angle where you'll have to have a "family user" to play Audible/iTunes store purchased songs (fine by me, since I just either buy CD's or JHymn the music once I buy it online) instead of every person using their own - but an iTunes family system would be a great. Only 4 more years until my daughter turns 10, and I think the system should be in place by then when she *really* starts getting into her own music.
    • " I can see a time when you buy a digital iCamera, and instead of accepting tapes it just uses an iPod for storage."

      The only thing I can figure is that you have one of Sony's 1973 model "Mavica" 0.3 kilopixel digital cameras that stores the pictures on an 8-track tape you insert in the side of the camera.

  • "I've never had a living, breathing music executive come to Apple."

    Kinda makes ya wonder what's hidden in that closet in the corner of Steve's office, doesn't it?

  • Popularizing existing technologies (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Alaska Jack ( 679307 ) * on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:02PM (#12037929) Journal
    Apple has a history of taking existing but fringe technologies and making them mainstream. I thought, in keeping with this, that the next revision of the iMac would keep the swing-arm structure, but add the ability to rotate the screen to portrait mode.

    Don't get me wrong, the new iMacs are cool, but I would have liked to see the rotating monitor become mainstream.

    - AJ

  • In related news, attorneys... (Score:3, Funny)

    by IronChefMorimoto ( 691038 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:14PM (#12038107)
    ...for Pentagram Design, Mr. Reeves and Mr. Pacino, had no additional comment regarding the future plans of collaboration between Apple and Pentagram.

    IronChefMorimoto

  • Full article text (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 24, 2005 @02:34PM (#12038348)
    (Expand browser window to view ungarbled.)

    What's Next for Apple?

    Steve Jobs won't ever tell you -- but we will. Here's what a trail of intriguing evidence reveals about
    where the world's hottest company is going.

    By Paul Sloan, Paul Kaihla, April 2005 Issue

    Steve Jobs was rocking back and forth in his chair at the head of his conference room table -- and venting. It was January 2002, and the target of his
    ire was the music business. The industry was reeling from Internet piracy and, as Jobs saw it, doing nothing about it. Even Jobs himself, a man
    accustomed to commanding people's attention, had been largely ignored by music execs. Jobs railed to his audience, a few Apple (AAPL)
    lieutenants and Paul Vidich, then a senior exec at Warner Music, about the industry's total lack of imagination. "Until now," Jobs said, "I've never had
    a living, breathing music executive come to Apple."
    Vidich sat quietly.

    "Why is it," Jobs continued, "that the people who run the music industry just don't get it?"
    Vidich could have taken this the way Jobs certainly meant it -- as an insult. But as Vidich listened, he couldn't help thinking that he agreed. Finally,
    he spoke up.

    "Steve," he said, "that's why we're here. We need some help."

    It's amazing to consider what has happened since that encounter at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. In three years Apple has utterly changed
    the way people listen to music, and Jobs has become the hero of the very people he was lambasting. Top acts are eager to sell their music via the
    iTunes music store. The iPod music player has become totemic; it's selling at a rate of about 40 per minute. White buds sprout from so many ears
    that a sudden human evolutionary adaptation seems to have taken place.

    Apple's lead in digital music is growing even as an army of corporate powerhouses -- Dell (DELL), Microsoft (MSFT), Samsung, and Sony (SNE)
    among them -- spends hundreds of millions of dollars to grab a slice of the business. And the financial transformation driven by Apple's storming of
    the music stage has been profound: On its knees when Jobs retook control in 1997, Apple is coming off a year in which revenue rose 33 percent and
    profits quadrupled. Its stock, not surprisingly, has been on a tear, up more than sixfold in the past two years and now hovering around $42 a share.

    So, Mr. Jobs, what do you do for an encore?

    It has become a parlor game in some quarters to try to divine where Apple is going and how it intends to get there -- and not just at the dozens of
    blogs that traffic in Apple rumors. Recently, Microsoft quietly hired a former Apple design executive whose mission is to help Bill Gates's baby
    behave more like Steve Jobs's. Apple doesn't make the game easy; Jobs is famously secretive and detests leaks -- just ask the kid from Harvard
    whom Apple recently sued after he posted details of the Mac Mini before the stripped-down computer was unveiled at Macworld (see "The Secrecy of
    Success"). But there are ways to draw a bead on what's brewing in Jobs's fantasy factory. And we're here to tell you, it goes way beyond what he has
    discussed at Macworld.

    Jobs wouldn't talk to Business 2.0, but in various public forums, he has stressed how the $499 Mac Mini, the low-cost iPod Shuffle, and an advanced
    operating system called Tiger, due out this spring, are meant to build on the digital-music momentum. In truth, they are but the tip of a very long spear.

    Discussions with past and present company officials, Apple partners, and longtime acquaintances of Jobs, as well as clues in patent applications
    and other evidence, point to a gargantuan effort to leverage the iPod's success by creating an entire line of breakout consumer electronics devices.
    Dozens of gadgets -- from an iPod phone to wireless iPods that talk to one another to the ultimate all-in-one home-cum-car media hub -- appear to be
    on the drawing board or, in some cases, already in prototy

  • This is what I want! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bodhammer ( 559311 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @03:38PM (#12039021)
    Newton + IPod (>=10Gb) + lightweight BSD/OSX on modern hardware (i.e. Zaurus SL-3000 size and form factor) with WiFi,USB 2.0, Outlook sync (for work), PalmOS emulation, Sony PSP screen resolution, and no shit 8 hours of battery life for less than $600.

    Steve, let me know when I can place my pre-order!

  • Are they serious?! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Caiwyn ( 120510 ) on Thursday March 24, 2005 @05:06PM (#12040105)
    This article claims some rather outlandish things I'd never heard:

    1. That iTunes was created as an attempt to mimic P2P software.
    2. That the makers of Kazaa sued Apple, and settled out of court for a rather large amount of money.
    3. That ESR did much of the programming on iTMS.
    4. That ESR is the one who suggested putting DRM on the files, a prospect that hadn't occurred to Jobs or the music industry.
    5. That the music industry had to convince Apple to loosen the DRM restrictions because they were afraid people wouldn't buy otherwise.

    I almost want to say this sounds like an early April Fool's joke. Are they serious? Does anybody buy this?

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