Apple creates iPod Division.
Does this belong in Digital Hub? Maybe. But does it solely fall under the realm of Digital Hub? Nope. So here it is.
Forbes is reporting that Apple has split the company into an iPod division and a Mac division.
Linkiepooo......http://www.forbes.com/technology/new...tr1378163.html
Discuss.....
Edit - I suppose I'll add some insight (if I have any, which I don't) I just didn't want to get beat to the punch by some sort of really fast-typing moderator.
I don't really think it was a necessary move unless the fourth generation iPod is really going to change the game (as was hinted by the front page rumors here)
Maybe it was just to stop the rumblings that Apple was focusing too much on the iPod and not their Macs. Huh. Maybe this does belong in Digital Hub. Move at Mods discretion.
Forbes is reporting that Apple has split the company into an iPod division and a Mac division.
Linkiepooo......http://www.forbes.com/technology/new...tr1378163.html
Discuss.....
Edit - I suppose I'll add some insight (if I have any, which I don't) I just didn't want to get beat to the punch by some sort of really fast-typing moderator.
I don't really think it was a necessary move unless the fourth generation iPod is really going to change the game (as was hinted by the front page rumors here)
Maybe it was just to stop the rumblings that Apple was focusing too much on the iPod and not their Macs. Huh. Maybe this does belong in Digital Hub. Move at Mods discretion.
Comments
Jon Rubenstein, who has led the Cupertino, California-based company's hardware engineering efforts, will run the new division, an Apple spokesman said.
Timothy Cook, head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, will lead a newly organized Macintosh division, Apple said. Tim Bucher, now in charge of Macintosh system development, will head up the Mac's hardware engineering.
hmmm... So, isnt this Rubenstein supposed to be the hardware guru at Apple Computer? I really doubt the new division is just for the iPod.. This could signal a general push from Apple into the consumer electronics sector.
Interesting choice for Rubenstein. Either they do have more up their sleeve, or else he's tired of the old computer thing, and they want to placate him, or both. Down the line, if Apple creates another very successful product line, then it might get its own division too. As long as they don't become fiefdoms, this can lead to very good things. I wonder how iTunes, the iTMS, Logic, Garage Band and so forth fall into this plan, especially the first two? In this same vein, would their Pro apps or all their non-system software also get put into an equivalent division? Enterprise? The fact that it's only the iPod (and/or directly related software) division doing this, it says a lot about where they're putting their resources considering how multifaceted they could be.
get ready kids. this is gonna get interesting.
Steve has divided the company again!
Now, 20 years on, It's The iPod team Vs The Macintosh team.
Who will win
Originally posted by Messiatosh
Steve Jobs was a different manager back in the early 80's, he made a different decision about this type of thing after the Apple II and Mac team fiasco.
Newton Inc. was a plan to spin off the Newton development into its own company, completely separate from Apple, this was a Gill Amelio idea. Following Amelio's July 9th resignation, Steve Jobs had been running the company on an informal basis, and apparently this was just one of many Amelio decisions with which he didnt agree. On September 4th, Newton Inc. executives were told by Jobs not to move into their new offices. Days later, Jobs pulled the subsidiary back and and they became the development team that was later responsible for what shipped as the iBook.
After 11 years of the Newton project, it was cancelled. An estimated half a billion dollars on development and marketing had been spent on it, and only managed to sell about 250,000 Newton devices during 4 and a half years on the market. The profitless product became a lightening rod for criticism, pushed one engineer to suicide, and was the ultimate undoing of a high profile industry CEO.
--------------------
Point is, Jobs knows what he is doing here. He axed the Newton wisely, now he may be opening up while it is potentially the best time in history to do so. Expand the hell out of what is undoubtedly the most recognizeable Apple product at this time, give it focus, develop it at a fantastic rate, and make it even more iconic in the industry. Apple is trying to beat Sony to the punch, and any other competitor who may be trying to cash in on the revolution that Apple started.
Unlike the Newton, and the original Mac, Apple wants to have the largest piece of the pie that it can possibly have. While Apple has repeatedly put out products that have been financial failures, they have been technical wonders-teaching everyone else a lesson in how to "do it right." Apple does not want to just be given credit for pioneering yet another market, they want to dominate one for a change. This is their chance to do it, and this is one of the steps they are taking to do so.
guess we were all wrong, huh? how does steve have vision that no one else has? or is it just balls?
Now this is interesting.
I suppose Apple's striking while the iron's hot, and I can't blame them, but given that the original iPod team was something like 40 people led by a freshly hired engineer, this is a fairly radical move. By putting a heavyweight VP like Rubinstein at the hardware helm, Apple is clearly determined to turn the iPod into a full-blown phenomenon.
What I wonder is, how? iPod gives them a brand that they can use for any sort of DLD, freeing the Mac to be a Mac rather than, say, a set-top box, while freeing the DLDs from the baggage attached to the Macintosh brand. But Apple will have to tread carefully here, because they don't want to dilute the brand.
Going the other way, Apple seems to be very carefully building the iPod up from a cool MP3 player to a platform, without losing sight of the main reason anyone buys an iPod. Newton fans may recall that the Newton was originally intended to supplant the Macintosh, to be the "next big thing." Apple might not have that in mind for iPod, but with the Mac platform being driven by demanding tasks like video editing, there's a lot of room for devices that are useful computers - and which are more useful for being limited to, and optimized for, fairly specific tasks. But if Apple is intending to nurse the iPod up to a "PDA done right" then I don't really see the point of an entire division, because it'll still only be one or two products.
Or, Apple is considering both: Right now, the iPod is already available as "just a music player" (the mini) and as something more of an assistant (the iPod). Nothing prevents the iPod division from becoming a consumer electronics vendor while patiently evolving the iPod into an increasingly sophisticated device.
Wow. This really has me thinking. Apple just got a lot more unpredictable.
Originally posted by segovius
As Big Mac implies - this might not be about the iPod so much as the Mac....
My take was that maybe there were big plans for the Mac and then IBM had problems and it is like the Mac project is complete, the next couple of models are just waiting faster processors. The iPod however may be just the tip of a potential iceberg, much work to do there. I don't know that the Mac is being pushed back as I think that Apple has that project complete for at least a year while they wait for IBM to make it past maybe 3.5GHz. I think that the Mac ducks are in a row, at least for the next year or two, and the problems with IBM are being worked out. Not allot to do here, but with the iPod and the other potential markets it could open up there is much work to do. I guess that is how I see it.
Originally posted by segovius
As Big Mac implies - this might not be about the iPod so much as the Mac....
Well, it depends on what future products Apple is working on. If the next big thing (err, a next small device) is being considered, Apple may thus focus on it by dedicating the whole division to it. Timothy Cook, on the other hand, may be supposed to further concentrate on international sales, which is (i.e. would be) good. Who knows? One thing is sure: they won't terminate the Macintosh division any time soon.
Originally posted by segovius
As Big Mac implies - this might not be about the iPod so much as the Mac....
also, they may intentionally be trying to create a PR line-in-the-sand, whereby issues with the Mac division do not necessarily reflect on the iPod (i.e. "...well, analysts noted that Mac sales slipped again, which doesn't bode well for the maker of the popular iPod...")
Or, is it entirely iPod Inc.?
Originally posted by Jared
As I understand this will still be branded as an Apple product right? Just a separate division in the company...
Or, is it entirely iPod Inc.?
It's not being spun off as its own company, it's just a division inside Apple. So it's not another Filemaker.
Originally posted by BuonRotto
It's not being spun off as its own company, it's just a division inside Apple. So it's not another Filemaker.
Okay, that's what I thought. The media mixed with Mac zealots the truth gets rather cloudy sometimes
Originally posted by MarcUK
I think this is to do with nullifying the Apple Corp(Beatles) case against Apple Comp as a music distributor. Seems like the Beatles no longer have a case.
The iPod being handled by a dedicated division in no way absolves Apple Computer from the lawsuit from Apple records.