Apple does not invent technology. Its successes have been taking relatively new devices and technologies and packaging them in a stylish, easy-to-use way that's marketable in simple language and concepts.

Sometimes they are wildly successful at this, and sometimes they're not. The iPod was more wildly successful than anybody could have predicted, but there was nothing really new there.

Apple adopting blu-ray by itself signifies little. After all, Apple put DVD-RAM drives in a series of desktops a few years ago, and look what that did for the format (nothing).

We haven't seen how Apple intends to integrate High-Definition video into the Mac platform, or if they plan to introduce some new home/portable product line that will leverage blu-ray technology into the public eye.

If all they do is stick blu-ray readers into next year's Mac desktops, we can all yawn.

If we see some whole new Apple product concept ("iDef"?) based on blu-ray -- and who knows exactly what it might be? -- then there's the potential for Apple to be a huge player in the market and locking the gate on HD-DVD. But not if it's just putting BR drives in their desktops because they got a good price from Sony.

RichC

I can agree with that for the most part - a player will not accomplish much - it needs to be a burner and incorporate movie editing software. I would like to see Apple do more than just stick roms in them. Maybe, Maybe not. I at least look for burners to be integrated for use with HD version of iMovie sometime in the near future if not at first - I think Jobs refers to this in the press thing anyways.

In reference to the DVD-RAM statement - I was an IT guy and we had some. Nobody knew what to do with them and media was expensive. We toyed with them for backup purposes, but they were ahead of their time - we found the server to be better for our backup needs and eventually just forgot about them.

A multimedia box (iDef sounded like a good name) would be nice. There have been rumors for years about a set-top box project but nothing ever comes of it. Sony and Apple should team up and make one. It could, like you said, give BR the push it needs to win. Apple has been pushing towards lifestyle items and this would fall in that category.

And you can thank Apple for going to Xerox and legally purchasing. That gave Microsoft the ability to then steal it from Apple so you could have Windows.

You could say that about any invention. Oh, and I loved my Newton.


Anyway, Apple 85% of the time has some great ideas on how to use different technologies, so I will be watching.

How about the rumored Tivo purchase? Combine an HD-Tivo & Blue Ray and you have a solid product. By purchasing Tivo, Apple could go against not allowing you to rip programs to the PC. Making it possible and having an iDef software to rip it, burn it and mix it with your HD shows. That would be sweet.

The wrinkle here is that the studios and networks don't want you to be able to time shift, nevermind record your shows. They want you to watch as they air, commercials and all, and then buy when it is released.

exactly. Apple is not a part of Hollywood, per se. Nevermind pixar.

Apple will take the technology and do what they want with it. Look at them right now, iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, and the iPod. They will build software around the technology, studios be damned.

What is your definition of "the mp3 revolution"? Only if it is wholly defined as the online sale of music does the iPod become integral.

One possibility -- which would hinge on blank media getting real cheap real fast -- is Apple getting into HD camcorders using the mini-BR disc that Sony is developing. (Sony BR camcorders have already been announced.)

A small, slick "iCam" that could record a couple of hours of HD or half a day's worth of SD video, plus function as a webcam and a multimedia source, combined with "iMovieHD," could conceivably define yet another new market.

Thinking out loud...

RichC

I disagree. Apple sells more MP3 players than everybody else combined, and has been doing so for three years. Something like half of all the player sin use are iPods.

The reason this matters is that nearly all of these players are owned by people who were new to portable music formats before they got an iPod.

Yes, Apple *also* changed the face of music retailing with iTunes, but if there was an "MP3 revolution" it was turning a niche format that was mostly the realm of geeks and techies into a booming market, and then owning that market.

I'm not a fan of the iPod and don't own one, but you have to give credit where it's due. Apple did for MP3 players what Bose did for expensive table radios: created a huge and lucrative market that hadn't previously existed.

RichC

I'm sorry, but Napster and Kazaa did more to spread awareness and use of mp3 files for music than the iPod. And predated the Apple product to boot.

:up: :up:

Maybe for the 12-25 crowd. the iPod brought it to the rest of the world. Bill Wyman (the Rolling Stones) was just on Bob & Tom talking about converting his cd collection for his iPod. Do you really think someone in his age group could have given a damn about MP3's before the iPod? I doubt it.

You've pretty much hit the nail on the head there. I sell iPods at work and I'd say about 70% of customers who want an iPod don't know what MP3 is and don't know how these things actually work. They've just seen someone else using one and want the same thing.

Some common questions are:

'So where do I plug in my hi-fi so I can record music to it?'
'MP3?? But I don't have an internet connection.'
'So what does this thing actually do?'

Seriously, to make people want to buy something (and come to buy in droves)they know nothing about is quite an achievement, and probably borderline mass mind control. Ok, that last one was sarcasm. But people who come to our store and ask for an MP3 player want something different from the guy who asks for an iPod. They've created the perception of something that totally stands out from the rest of the market.

I too am not very keen on the whole Apple Assimilation Bandwagon, and don't own one and never will, but damned if Apple didn't strike a goldmine and make the most owned and talked about gadget in the last decade.

Well, since the fact that I do makes the rest of your ideas invalid, I'll move on.

^ One person does not make a demographic.

I don't get all the backlash for the iPod. Apple makes a high quality product everyone wants to own, and it is a bandwagon? How about that 95% bandwagon that Bill Gates created for himself with a half assed OS? That is something I will never understand.

But back on topic. Despite a small market share, what Apple does, generally is watched by the entire PC world. They are considered innovators and are quickly "ripped off" by the mass market PC world. Just look at that iPod shuffle wannabe(hell, all the iPod wannabes). Look at how laptops from PC makers DRASTICALLY changed once the Titanium came out. Whether one wants to believe it or not, having Apple on your side is a good thing in this format war.

I'll agree that it's a high quality product in terms of construction, but it's just not flexible enough in terms of features, which I believe is a ploy so people will have to spend big bucks on the expensive extras. For the money you pay for one of these suckas you should be getting a car charger kit, belt-clip case, skin cover, AND those high quality ear canal headphones.

I'd say people buy Windows mainly because it's nessesary for compatibility and it's come so far that it's basically an industry standard now. If Linux was half the price of Windows and promised compatibility with Windows files, programs and devices, then people would buy that instead. If people have no other easy option then what can they do?

I might be wrong here, but I don't have time to check dates and stuff, but I'm sure that Hard Drive based MP3 players from other manufacturers were available before the iPod, and I'm almost certain Sony's Z range of laptops came out before Apples titanium.

Apples recent success has been down to it's design and marketing. Not because of new ideas or technologies.

Also, check out this link to an amusing forum thread about another new Apple product that has been rumoured.