Could iPod revive Apple?

[MacBytes]

Category: News and Press Releases
Link: Could iPod revive Apple? (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20041219153118)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[dashiel]

i am always reminded of plato's allegory of the cave when i hear windows users make claims like "i find the mac less user friendly".

[iJon]

In my opinion I don't think the iPod has much of an affect as say spyware and viruses. The spyware problem has gotten outrageous, people are getting so frustrated. Everyday so many PC's are being brought in to be worked on and then they turn to the Mac. When I tell them they can avoid all that bulls***t they get extremely excited.

Apple is in a very prime position to sell Macs right now. I think Apple should be putting more ads on TV to remind people there is another computer out there to buy.

jon

[Threnody]

I guess it's nice that Apple's getting all this press lately, but this has got to be the eighth story I've read this week on this theme. Frankly, the people writing these stories are coming to the party just a tad late.

For starters, the iPod has been around for a good three years now, and those with a clue realized the iPod's potential long ago. This is sort of like a headline from September 12, 2001 that reads "Terrorism a Major Threat"...well duh! (maybe that's a little OT, sorry I'm writing a term paper right now!) Wired has been writing about the iPod for three years now!

Apple may have needed saving a few years ago, but even without the iPod I don't doubt it would be in good shape. I would say the iMac, OS X, (at least from Jaguar on) and the return of Steve's RDF were way more important for Apple's revival.

In a way this kind of attention is kind of negative. Especially since the only Mac user in the story is quoted as saying he finds Windows easier to use! I don't doubt that the iPod is doing Apple good in the short-term, but the MP3 player market is much newer than the computer industry. Apple's computer sales are stable and fairly reliable. It's a lot easier to change MP3 players, though, and the technology is new enough that somebody could end up outdoing Apple (hope not though!)

I'm sure that most Macrumours readers are more Mac fans than iPod fans, so it's a shame that all this iPod coverage has come at the expense of all the other great things Apple does.

[Bunzi2k4]

I've started to notice that everyone is talking about ipods. Like the previous poster before me, I don't think apple needs to be revived. Ever since the very first iPod came out, I wanted one. I didn't even have firewire at the time and still wanted an iPod.

I hate it when talking to non-mac users about Apple. Every idiot pc user I know only knows apple as "iPod maker". What happened to their computers!? If I mention that, they just say "Oh they're still under 1ghz and they're prices are waaay over $2,000 and they all they did was copy windows..."

We should all march to washington and protest. and then burn every peecee user's house down. :-D

[MoparShaha]

"I have a Dell, and I love my Dell," said Ashley Morgan, 19, a student at St. Joseph's University, who is hoping to get a pink iPod mini this Christmas.Very disturbing.

I agree with iJon, Apple is missing an opportunity here. All the negative press Windows is receiving about spyware and viruses is a prime opportunity to show people Macs, and how they are not vulnerable to these things. People are fed up, they need to be shown that there is another option.

[macnulty]

the revision of apple lies in the xserve not in the iPod.

[Sharewaredemon]

I don't know who said it, but the best time for Apple to start advertising is once Tiger comes out, as most people agree that Panther is what os X should have been under the first release. (blah blah blah) I'm just repeating stuff I heard on these boards.


I agree with the Threnody about the one mac user who has a g3 laptop, I mean it seems like they talked to people until they had one bad story, and posted that one.

[mrgreen4242]

Agreed that Apple needs to make a major advertising blitz when Tiger comes out... here are my suggestions:

Have a PC trade in program. Give people a couple hundred bucks off the price of an iMac or $100-125 off the price of an eMac for trading in a PC (P3 or faster maybe?)... load up Linux on all the PCs and donate them to thrud world countries or just recycle them =p

Give away, AOL style, some CDs that have some sort of Windows app that "emulates" (simulates, more accurately) what OSX is like in a full screen demo mode. I don't mean port OSX, I'm thinking something along the lines of an interactive flash demo, where you can click on buttons to navigate through a virtual harddrive, launch Office (or at least Word and Excel), use iPhoto, iTune, iMovie, etc. all while some voice over guide gives you a sale pitch/tour and prompts you with ideas of what to try next (like "hit F11 and see what happens!" or "Try Word for Mac, just liek Wor dfor Windows, but better, by clicking on the W icon towards the bottom of your screen", etc).

Clearly more TV commercials and print ads in major newspapers and magizines. Maybe do some demo stands at computer expos and what not too, to give more ppl a chance to try Macs. Get more school bookstores to stock Macs in store, and advertise the educational discount.

With the iPods runaway success, they should try and run some ads paralleling the iMac G5 to the iPod. ("The new Apple iMac G5 - the iPod of computers"). Emphasize the shape and sleek look, along with it's ease of use and the "Just Works" cocnept that makes the iPod so desirable.

Viruses, spyware/malware, and the bad press MS is recieving over IE is making more people look at alternatives. Apple should capitalize this, along with the iPod's huge success and try to build up a bigger computer user base. I look at it like a field of dreams kind of situation. If you build it (the use base) they (the developers) will comes. And as more developers get on board, more users will come... it's a good oppurtunity.

[rikers_mailbox]

if you think about it, the iPod has not drastically changed since it first came out 3 years ago. The interface and smoothness with which it sycs with iTunes is largely unchanged. To me, that makes articles like this so far behind the times. I also makes me wonder what other technologies Mac users take for granted. How many PC users have even *seen* expose, let alone have the chance to integrate it into their workflow?

Tiger is going to be so far ahead of XP, (and Longhorn is still far away) it will be hard for people not to take notice. iPod is just creating more traffic for Apple to show off what it has created for themselves. The next year is going to be exciting.

[solvs]

"I have a Dell, and I love my Dell."
My Stepmom says the same thing about her Dell Laptop, in between calls asking me how to fix it. She barely even uses it on the internet, and some of it is user error, but some of it is poor design. In hardware and software. Of course, the only thing she can compare it to is a 200MHz P1 running Windows 9x. Which has a lot of the same problems, but she can't stand that computer. She wants to get a faster one so her dial-up internet is faster. :rolleyes:

She won't get an Apple, because she doesn't want to be weird. She'll get an iPod though, because everyone has 1. There aren't enough :rolleyes: 's in the world for some people.

[Daveway]

Hasn't the iPod already done this? :rolleyes:

[winmacguy]

Agreed that Apple needs to make a major advertising blitz when Tiger comes out... here are my suggestions:

Have a PC trade in program. Give people a couple hundred bucks off the price of an iMac or $100-125 off the price of an eMac for trading in a PC (P3 or faster maybe?)... load up Linux on all the PCs and donate them to thrud world countries or just recycle them =p

Give away, AOL style, some CDs that have some sort of Windows app that "emulates" (simulates, more accurately) what OSX is like in a full screen demo mode. I don't mean port OSX, I'm thinking something along the lines of an interactive flash demo, where you can click on buttons to navigate through a virtual harddrive, launch Office (or at least Word and Excel), use iPhoto, iTune, iMovie, etc. all while some voice over guide gives you a sale pitch/tour and prompts you with ideas of what to try next (like "hit F11 and see what happens!" or "Try Word for Mac, just liek Wor dfor Windows, but better, by clicking on the W icon towards the bottom of your screen", etc).

Clearly more TV commercials and print ads in major newspapers and magizines. Maybe do some demo stands at computer expos and what not too, to give more ppl a chance to try Macs. Get more school bookstores to stock Macs in store, and advertise the educational discount.

With the iPods runaway success, they should try and run some ads paralleling the iMac G5 to the iPod. ("The new Apple iMac G5 - the iPod of computers"). Emphasize the shape and sleek look, along with it's ease of use and the "Just Works" cocnept that makes the iPod so desirable.

Viruses, spyware/malware, and the bad press MS is recieving over IE is making more people look at alternatives. Apple should capitalize this, along with the iPod's huge success and try to build up a bigger computer user base. I look at it like a field of dreams kind of situation. If you build it (the use base) they (the developers) will comes. And as more developers get on board, more users will come... it's a good oppurtunity.


On the contrary I think the best advertising Apple has right now is the iPod.

Why? Because PC switchers need time to get used to the different operating system and the iPod is their entree to OSX. Lots of PC users prefer a system that they are familiar with no matter how virus ridden or buggy. Incidently NOT all PC users have virus problems. The iPod is an ideal swithching mechanism because it gives the PC user an introduction to Apples interface while they are still in familiar PC territory. A bit like trainer wheels on your first bicycle.

Also PC users need to be introduced to Apple gradually in order for the switch to be successful.

One major problem that Apple would encounter if it did a major ad blitz selling the fantastic features of Panther or Tiger, lots of pissed off customers who couldnt get hold of any stock due to ongoing supply issues from IBM regarding the in ability to manufacture enough G5 chips. They are already having enough issues with limited availability of Power Macs and some lines of the G5 iMac.

Apple will get more PC switchers as time goes on just dont expect it to happen over night.

[iJaz]

Viruses, spyware/malware, and the bad press MS is recieving over IE is making more people look at alternatives. Apple should capitalize this, along with the iPod's huge success and try to build up a bigger computer user base. I look at it like a field of dreams kind of situation. If you build it (the use base) they (the developers) will comes. And as more developers get on board, more users will come... it's a good oppurtunity.

Bragging about OS X being virus free is just asking for trouble, I really think Apple should avoid that. When the first virus for OS X comes, Apple will suffer big times if they have stated that OS X is virus free.

[iJon]

Bragging about OS X being virus free is just asking for trouble, I really think Apple should avoid that. When the first virus for OS X comes, Apple will suffer big times if they have stated that OS X is virus free.
Personally I don't think it's a lack of us being popular, although that is a huge part of it. Now someone who codes and develops can come correct me if I am wrong. I think a big part is OS X's security. Many of these programs have to get past the admin authentication before any damage can be done.

jon

[solvs]

Bragging about OS X being virus free is just asking for trouble, I really think Apple should avoid that. When the first virus for OS X comes, Apple will suffer big times if they have stated that OS X is virus free.
Though true, and I think that's why they don't do it, this point has been argued many times. Though Apple may be a smaller target, there are plenty of Mac-hating script kiddies out there who would have written an OS X virus if they could. An OS X virus is the holy grail for that crowd. Anybody can write a Windows virus. And many of them are Linux users, so while there are some Linux viruses, why pee in your own pool?

[Chip NoVaMac]

Very disturbing.

I agree with iJon, Apple is missing an opportunity here. All the negative press Windows is receiving about spyware and viruses is a prime opportunity to show people Macs, and how they are not vulnerable to these things. People are fed up, they need to be shown that there is another option.

The only problem in this, is that the hackers would then start to work on the Mac to take the wind out of the sails of such claims.

Edit: Sorry didn't see the post by B-52....

[Chip NoVaMac]

Maybe do some demo stands at computer expos and what not too, to give more ppl a chance to try Macs.

Like MS has done this holiday season with setups in the mall to show-off the MS Media Center and XBox game system.

[macFanDave]

As a big Mac fan (not the Big Mac sandwich, as I was in my youth), an owner of three Macs, an Apple shareholder and a frequent borrower of my daughter's pink iPod mini, I think it is an outstanding product and, in combination with the iTunes Music Store, Apple has done a wonderful job asserting itself in music delivery industry.

Yet I always have a bit of sadness that Apple's current success it in the consumption of content, not it's creation. Remembering Apple's successes in Desktop Publishing and with many graphics-driven apps like those for image manipulation, I looked forward to the next Mac craze to be driven by some creative force. While I've heard a lot of nice things about GarageBand, iMovie/Final Cut Pro, Xcode and even Keynote, none of those apps that enable people to create content has caused the enormous buzz that Apple's content consumption duo has.

Sure, I wouldn't complain if a lot of iPod-listening, web-surfing, e-mailing folks suddenly started buying Macs, but I'd really be happy to see hordes of filmmakers, musicians, programmers, authors and artists ranging from dabblers to pros joining the community I've been enjoying for years.

[Sir_Giggles]

A $50 dollar coupon included in every iPod box sold at select PC stores like Best Buy that goes towards the purchase of any Macintosh computer system. To redeem, you cannot be a previous Mac customer on file.