In short: Mac OS X security, new Zune assault, Belgian iTunes probe

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  • Reply 41 of 52
    jamezogjamezog Posts: 163member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Oh, yes... Avocado Brown, Harvest Brown...



    fuchsia & periwinkle - might actually help them grab the younger female population.
  • Reply 42 of 52
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ajmas View Post


    What ever you believe about Microsoft and the Zune, it would not be wise to ignore the presence. Most people laughed when Microsoft entered the game console market and now they are provding very serious competition,



    Blah. Many peopole are still laughing at Microsoft in the console market. Why? Because



    1) Microsoft has lost several BILLION on the Xbox. If they have a dozen more such 'successes', that will drive even them into bankruptcy.



    2) Microsoft's claim to be 'in the lead' in the next-gen console market is based on them releasing a year earlier than Sony and Nintendo, and being able to count a year and a half of 360 sales against only a few months of Wii or PS3 sales (PS3 didn't even have its European launch until last month). Many people expect both Sony and Nintendo (due to the Wii's unexpectedly strong showing) to pass the 360 in sales eventually.



    And hey, if I had five billion or so to throw away in losses, I betcha I could put in a decent showing in some market somewhere. Of course, I would be destroying shareholder value and hurting the company, but what of it?



    MS has to have some 'good news' these days, though even their good news is pretty bad, if you're talking what the Xbox has done for their bottom line to this point.







    .
  • Reply 43 of 52
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    Sure, it's obvious Microsoft is prepping a 2nd [Zune] attack and it's obvious it's going to be a flash based device. The problem is that Cupertino doesn't have its sights on Apple's iPod, they are going after the smaller fish. The former Play4sure partners. Zune will need to get a relatively large chunk of the non-iPod marketshare--which it won't-- before it can even begin to think about taking a share of the iPod.



    Too true. Privately, Microsoft probably knows it can't make any serious inroads against the iPod right now, regardless of whatever public statements they make to the contrary. So their immediate target is 'guys they might be able to take', i.e. SanDisk, Sony, Samsung, iRiver, etc.



    Shows you how smart it was for them (or anyone) to partner with Microsoft in the first place.



    Apple knows this as well. It'll be interesting to see how Apple's DRM-free initiative plays out in all of this. It has the (intentional?) side effect of opening up the iTunes Store for use by non-iPod music player owners. That could be a nice bulwark for MS's former partners against the encroachment of the Zune. And yet another reason for Microsoft to be ticked at Apple.



    .
  • Reply 44 of 52
    chris vchris v Posts: 460member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    It'll be interesting to see how Apple's DRM-free initiative plays out in all of this. It has the (intentional?) side effect of opening up the iTunes Store for use by non-iPod music player owners. That could be a nice bulwark for MS's former partners against the encroachment of the Zune. And yet another reason for Microsoft to be ticked at Apple.



    .



    "Ensign! Load chain-shot and aim for their sails amidships!"



    "Aye, Captain Jobs!"
  • Reply 45 of 52
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    2) They're going to make Flash Zunes just like anyone off the street knew they would months ago. These too will get their heads handed to them in the market, thus expanding MS's humiliation to a brand new market segment.








    I *love* that...
  • Reply 46 of 52
    michaelbmichaelb Posts: 242member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by timewarp424 View Post


    I am fairly excited that the Zune is preparing this second wave of attack. Maybe, just maybe, it'll open up some competition for the ipod, and with that, we'll actually get updates more frequently and better features. The ipod is getting stale, and a harddrive upgrade won't make it more exciting.



    Hear, hear.



    The 5G model came out in 2005, and having the drive bumped 20GB and some other very minor tweaks last year doesn't even qualify for the "5.5G" tag in my book.



    With sales still strong and scant competition, there seems to be no incentive to release a new generation. Chances are they are purposefully delaying it to maximize interest in the iPhone.



    The iPhone is extremely appealing, but with limited storage and the requirement of a phone contract, the iPhone can't be considered the 6G iPod. It's a new line of product, not the advancement of the iPod line.



    With healthier competition in the high capacity, large-screen PMP market (the Zune has a slightly bigger screen, which gets favorable comments from owners), Apple might be inclined push the envelope on the flagship iPod a bit harder.



    (That said, if they are using the time to wait for high capacity solid-state storage to become viable, then I'll forgive them. Maybe.)
  • Reply 47 of 52
    tbagginstbaggins Posts: 2,306member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by michaelb View Post


    The iPhone is extremely appealing, but with limited storage and the requirement of a phone contract, the iPhone can't be considered the 6G iPod.



    No one really does consider it to be the 6G iPod, marketing-ese aside. The iPhone is a high-end cellphone with iPod capabilities that shares technology with the probable 6G iPod (MultiTouch).



    Quote:

    (That said, if [Apple is] using the time to wait for high capacity solid-state storage to become viable, then I'll forgive them. Maybe.)



    If the wait for Apple products is disappointing you so seriously that you feel the need to 'forgive them', then maybe you should get something else. A Zune perhaps, or Toshiba Gigabeat (wait... same thing, lol).



    Seriously, if Apple rushed the 6G iPod to market without serious upgrades (Multitouch), you and others would be complaining about THAT. And sure, it'll be delayed to a couple of months after the iPhone's launch, because that's just sound marketing/business. If Microsoft or SanDisk or Sony had Apple's product portfolio, they'd be doing the exact same thing.



    Again, no one's making you buy Apple. If the prospect of a 6G touchscreen iPod doesn't sound exciting and/or appealing, then don't wait for one. \



    .
  • Reply 48 of 52
    alanskyalansky Posts: 235member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ajmas View Post


    Most people laughed when Microsoft entered the game console market and now they are provding very serious competition, and are currently top in the next generation consoles.



    However, since it is debatable whether hard-core gamers have actual brains or just printed circuits in their heads, it figures that Microsoft would do well in this market.
  • Reply 49 of 52
    alanskyalansky Posts: 235member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by palex9 View Post


    our country is probably the most vulnerable to any serious disruption of the net. maybe congress is just plain stupid when i comes to these matters.



    Yeah, "maybe"... Like maybe the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning.
  • Reply 50 of 52
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Today's announcement re higher bit rate, DRM free AAC tracks at the iTMS makes Zune even more irrelevant.



    .



    Yes, DRM-Free music is great, and I welcome it, but I also like the MS idea and wish to heaven that Apple would do it too -- it is called subscriptions, and it is the PERFECT use for DRM! I fully understand and expect DRM in a subscription, but I like the idea of a limitless variety of music for ~$12/Mo, that is a big reason that I chose Sirius over iPod integration for my car when I got a new job that came with ~3Hrs of commuting. (Side note to Leo Laporte -- Why did you go XM?!? )



    I can just buy the ~50 CDs that I am interested in hearing more than one song from more than once in a blue moon...
  • Reply 51 of 52
    a_greera_greer Posts: 4,594member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TBaggins View Post


    Blah. Many peopole are still laughing at Microsoft in the console market. Why? Because



    1) Microsoft has lost several BILLION on the Xbox. If they have a dozen more such 'successes', that will drive even them into bankruptcy.



    2) Microsoft's claim to be 'in the lead' in the next-gen console market is based on them releasing a year earlier than Sony and Nintendo, and being able to count a year and a half of 360 sales against only a few months of Wii or PS3 sales (PS3 didn't even have its European launch until last month). Many people expect both Sony and Nintendo (due to the Wii's unexpectedly strong showing) to pass the 360 in sales eventually.



    And hey, if I had five billion or so to throw away in losses, I betcha I could put in a decent showing in some market somewhere. Of course, I would be destroying shareholder value and hurting the company, but what of it?



    MS has to have some 'good news' these days, though even their good news is pretty bad, if you're talking what the Xbox has done for their bottom line to this point.







    .



    MS has went from a nothing in the console market to a strong number 2...Sonys PS3s are just not selling too well, they are friggen over-priced for most families, for the price of a PS3, you can get a 360, extra controls, a game or two and an xbox live subscribtion...and their only real competition at the moment is Nintendo... the only hope for PS3 is a price cut combined with GT HD.



    Contrarty to popular lour, MS does make money on each 360 and accessory, and broke even on xbox consoles for a large part of their life...but everyone knows that a consoles real profit center is in licensing the game companies, and accessories like extra controllers, headsets, wifi adapters and Live subscriptions.



    MS has been the 2nd place company in digital music, as it controls the DRM and playback platform for all non-apple download stores.



    MS also takes care of every single aspect of the medium-to-large corporate computing too (outside of the Cisco IOSs on the switches and routers)



    They are the only game in town for PC gaming, they make the best flight sim games, they have a solid hardware division too



    The only real failures that MS has had in the last decade were Webtv, Bob, and Windows ME



    not too shabby really...considering all Apple does outside of making the greatest OS ever is make iPods.
  • Reply 52 of 52
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dacloo View Post


    Hmmmm well..... I disagree. Apple has a marketing plan as well. It's a commercial company who wants to make money just like Microsoft. Steve Jobs may love music, but the succes lies in the product designers who clearly are more creative and work with a vision. Steve's just the CEO. Ofcourse he outlines his strategy and vision, but Apple is not Steve Jobs.

    I agree totally on the "designed from inside out" part though



    Well, I think it makes a huge difference that "the vision" comes from Steve. We've all heard the stories of how he sends stuff back to the drawing board if he doesn't like some aspect of the fit and finish, or functionality, or design.



    And he decides where the product lines goes. Apple might have had the engineering and design people to make the iPod, but without Steve it never would have gotten made, at least not as we know it, because Steve was the one with the all over vision of keeping it super simple and focused. In that sense he is like the director of a good movie-- you could say that the real talent lies with all the fx and makeup and lighting and cinematography people, but in the end it's the good directors that put their stamp on the production.



    Of course Apple is in business to make money, but the idea is that if they make really great products (read, stuff that Steve thinks are good enough), then they will make money.



    It's a two edged sword, of course-- many of the infuriating omissions and wrong headed moves are also because Steve trusts his gut over marketing people.
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