Apple Consumer Electronics???
Okay, citing the popularity and success of the iPod, can anyone foresee Apple begining an all Consumer Electronics line of products?
Obviously the success of the iPod across both Mac and PC platforms is a testiment that Apple can appeal to large market if they want to.
What do you see as a possible product lineup?
Obviously the success of the iPod across both Mac and PC platforms is a testiment that Apple can appeal to large market if they want to.
What do you see as a possible product lineup?
Comments
mp3 players = suX0rz so the iPod came out
Premiere = suX0rz so FCP came out
Windows 2000/ME = suX0rz so OS X
web cams were horrible so apple came out with one
iSight should be made for PC as soon as possible though, i mean make it USB 2.0 (apple should be able to easily since they have experience with the iPod) and i'm sure it would sell well (relatively to how webcams sell...i can't imagine its well)
The question is, does the iSight need more power from the line then USB provides? I can't imagine it would, but you'd never know.
I don't really think that Apple cares about making the camera work for Windows though. They did it according to standards because that was easiest for them, so it does work under Windows, but really iChat AV is part of the Apple experience.
You basically have cheap option like the Turtle Beach Audiotron and then you have overpriced offerings from plenty of companies. There seems to be a weak middle ground.
Consumers are simply looking for a MP3 Server that will allow the whole house to access the large pool of music whether it be Wired or Wireless. No company has made that easy at all.
Apple won't do it but DVRs are the equivalent for Video. To be able to Timeshift and other functions with Tivo and Replay is a Godsend for those who have $80 cable bills yet never find the time to find the right shows. Apple would be stellar in this market but they choose to cooperate with tivo instead.
Cell phones? Being given away, no money, unless you're also tied to the sevice end, complicated and messy, forget it.
Consumer electronics. Camcorders, PVR's, TV's, digital still cameras. Lotsa money, but also lotsa competition. IF Apple goes there, look fo rhtem to wade intot he fray cautiously, and to have a strategy mounted to back it up. ie, iPod plus iTMS.
iMovie, plus QT, plus rendesvous, plus iCal, plus a possible PVR type software/firewire TV peripheral? Mebbe. Imagine broadcasting MPEG4 based home movies to friends? OR a software (plus firewire breakout) package that lets your iMac become a PVR. iCal lets you program your shows, and the software just records at the right time, or you might use .mac to access "play lists/guides" that automatically list all the shows you want. Perhaps your DVD burning can even be automated. You leave a blank DVD in there and when the show is recorded, the DVD is burnt and the HD file erased. Almost no HW costs, just a software package and a breakout box. OR, an QTMS (Quick Time Movie Store) and a standalone (mac syncing) PVR. Airport tells the PVR what you want to order and it goes to it DL'ing the (MPEG4) file as time, bandwidth permits. It's encrypted, but you get a very high quality file, that you can watch, or pay to make it "free" to burn to DVD. "Rent" or "Buy" and watch at your leisure all without leaving your home. We still need more bandwidth at better prices before that becomes feasible, but even now a broadband user could order the movies the night before and have them ready to watch the next day.
What we will see, once good HDTV sets become a reality, is the return of the console/computer, like a box that uses HDTV as a "monitor" 1920x1080p is enough to make text/data display comfortable on a big screen. The living room computer, basically, is waiting on TV technology to permeate the market, then numerous set-top functions will migrate to real computers that just happen to be able to drive a monitor as well as a TV. Mebbe in 4-5 years.
i like the sound of your post!
the waiting game kills me on all this good stuff!
we want this now apple!
In these fields I think Apple has seen a gap in the market and filled it by putting out really well designed products. In the rest of Apple's applications I don't think there are any major hardware gaps.
iPhoto - There's loads of digital camera's out
iMovie - ditto
iDVD - The hardware is already there
I think if another piece of hardware is coming Apple would give us the software first, the product HAS to be tightly intergrated with macs.
Eg if an Apple branded phone was coming Apple would put out a piece of internet telephony software first then later bring out the hardware to work with it.
This is just my train of thought anyway. I don't expect anything soon. I mean even the iPod wasn't a huge leap away from Apple's experience, it puts a hard drive in a cool box with a bit of software to run in, the rest is pretty much sewn up.
Still Apple is a hardware company and thy're always surprising us.
Originally posted by ast3r3x
iSight should be made for PC as soon as possible though, i mean make it USB 2.0 (apple should be able to easily since they have experience with the iPod) and i'm sure it would sell well (relatively to how webcams sell...i can't imagine its well)
If they do this they should leave it FireWire. Much better for this application than USB. For wintel just add a FW card to the box.
A couple of years ago when I bought a scanner they included a SCSCI card for wintel users. The OEM cost of a FW card has to be rather low now.
Originally posted by neutrino23
If they do this they should leave it FireWire. Much better for this application than USB. For wintel just add a FW card to the box.
A couple of years ago when I bought a scanner they included a SCSCI card for wintel users. The OEM cost of a FW card has to be rather low now.
The cards cost about $20 retail. So worst case scenario if Apple wanted to do this is that they add $20 to the price of an iSight and put it in a bigger box?
PC Requirements
Firewire Port or Windows certified FireWire card.
Windows XP (*)
* = why not, every other version of windows should be deleted by now.
I now know that Apple really can never get above maybe 5% so Apple should just reap in the money on Windows users and give them the good stuff as well.
The compters themselves and the OS are the exception to this, of course.
[Fantasy mode] Screw the fact of low margins and lots of competition. We could have a G3 based PDA running Darwin and "Aqua Lite." Maybe a 480x320 display, 32 Megs of RAM an IBM microdrive @ 500 megs, and bluetooth. I would be cool. [/fantasy mode]
I know it will never happen, but I can dream.
Since it is OS X you don't have to learn a new OS. It is your same old, familiar OS X. You could run your same familiar apps (Safari, Mail, Tex-Edit Plus, FMP, iTunes, etc.).
The IR interface would let it serve as a universal remote. Now you can sit on the couch and control your DVD player, TV, cable box and stereo while surfing the net. Check the schedules on TVGUIDE.COM then when you find the movie log in to IMDB.com to see what everyone else says about the movie and maybe add your own comments.
If you're hungry you can log in to the pizza parlor and order a pizza online for delivery.
While watching you could also engage in online chats with your friends. Maybe even video chats with iSight.
Seems like every home needs several.
Originally posted by neutrino23
The IR interface would let it serve as a universal remote. Now you can sit on the couch and control your DVD player, TV, cable box and stereo while surfing the net. Check the schedules on TVGUIDE.COM then when you find the movie log in to IMDB.com to see what everyone else says about the movie and maybe add your own comments.
If you're hungry you can log in to the pizza parlor and order a pizza online for delivery.
While watching you could also engage in online chats with your friends. Maybe even video chats with iSight.
Seems like every home needs several.
Sounds like a slobs paradise!
Yeah, I think Apple could sell the iSight to Windows users, and port iChat AV to Windows... but I don't think they will. Why not? Because. That's the best explanation I have for them not making DVI versions of their displays to sell to non-PowerMac users. Just because.
Originally posted by Luca Rescigno
Apple COULD sell their monitors to everyone. But they insist on using that cruddy proprietary ADC connector instead of DVI, therefore removing most people interested in buying a monitor from the Studio and Cinema displays' market.
Yeah, I think Apple could sell the iSight to Windows users, and port iChat AV to Windows... but I don't think they will. Why not? Because. That's the best explanation I have for them not making DVI versions of their displays to sell to non-PowerMac users. Just because.
ADC is DVI, except the connector also includes power and USB. PC manufactures could use it. The standard is open, but the industry and video card manufactures are too close minded to embrace it. I guess they like having inferior technology and lots of cables.