iTunes PreInstalled HPs - End of March

[MacRumors]

According to the meta-description embedded in the HP Music Site (http://www.hp.com/united-states/music/), HP should start shipping iTunes pre-installed HPs by the end of this month:

The [iTunes] icon will start shipping pre-loaded on Pavilion and Presario computers in late March and these pages will be the first landing site directed towards HP.com\music

The original announcement (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/01/20040108132810.shtml) placed pre-installed iTunes shipments in "summer". No further word on availability of the HP-branded iPod, however.

[Viv]

Now thats got to bump up the fifty million ITunes sales as soon as it gets out in the wild:-)

Viv

[rdowns]

This is good news. I hope HP does a lot of advertising of this. Apple needs all the good consumer press it can get.

[stoid]

Since Apple will be really really close to actually hitting that 100 million songs goal and make all these people trying to spin Apple's ass kickings out to be negative and failures eat their words. If this increased the downloads by only a half million a week... that could be all Apple needs to get to 100 million! That's a lot of tunes! :D

[Viv]

Since Apple will be really really close to actually hitting that 100 million songs goal and make all these people trying to spin Apple's ass kickings out to be negative and failures eat their words. If this increased the downloads by only a half million a week... that could be all Apple needs to get to 100 million! That's a lot of tunes! :D

How many Pcees a week do HP sell? I wonder what the percentage of new pc users suddenly introduced to ITunes out of the box will be and who then press the buy button?

Yes ITunes has been availible to them for a while but they had to go and get it! now its in front of them will they use it? this should be really interesting.

Viv

[nagromme]

I have to believe the HPod won't wait for summer, either. I don't see Apple waiting much beyond summer to release a 4th-G iPod, and that would make HP's "obsolete" surprisingly fast, if say the HPod comes out in July and the 4G in September.

Getting the HPods out now gives them a run before something better (including a new HPod very likely) comes out of Apple later this year.

And why wait? It's just blue paint :) I'd expect HP to wait only for their PCs to be pre-loaded, and then launch the HPod. (I'm curious to see the color in something OTHER than a bad video. A second color choice is no bad thing.)

Also note: the deal applies to Compaqs too--they too will be preloaded with iTunes. (Maybe not all at the same time.)

[dabeatles]

My guess is that they're preinstalling iTunes earlier than planned to make it easier for existing customers to buy an hPod when they come out.

[Hattig]

Since Apple will be really really close to actually hitting that 100 million songs goal and make all these people trying to spin Apple's ass kickings out to be negative and failures eat their words. If this increased the downloads by only a half million a week... that could be all Apple needs to get to 100 million! That's a lot of tunes! :D

Currently Apple is at 50m songs sold at a current rate of 2.5m a week (i.e., there is growth still as that is 50m every 20 weeks, or 140m a year). Assume 3m a week for the next 6 weeks, and Apple will have sold nearly 70m songs by the time they said they wanted to sell 100m.

Still, that isn't too bad. Especially since there is that 100m Pepsi song promotion that might have cost quite a few sales that would have happened otherwise.

[nagromme]

Don't forget that Apple isn't giving away those Pepsi songs--they ARE sales. Pepsi pays Apple for them.

[machan]

Don't forget that Apple isn't giving away those Pepsi songs--they ARE sales. Pepsi pays Apple for them.

also, the 50 million figure does not include any of the pepsi song numbers....i expect they will save that for april 28th to show how far they exceeded 100 million songs. my guess is they will get about 105 million songs by then, everything included.

[bella716]

I just bought some iTunes and I can't burn to a disc...help...



According to the meta-description embedded in the HP Music Site (http://www.hp.com/united-states/music/), HP should start shipping iTunes pre-installed HPs by the end of this month:



The original announcement (http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/01/20040108132810.shtml) placed pre-installed iTunes shipments in "summer". No further word on availability of the HP-branded iPod, however.

[the_mole1314]

I just bought some iTunes and I can't burn to a disc...help...

Put the songs you want to burn into a playlist, go to your preferences, choose audio CD, then go to your playlist and go to the top right of the window. There will be a circle with BURN underneight it. Click the circle and it'll burn.

[bella716]

Put the songs you want to burn into a playlist, go to your preferences, choose audio CD, then go to your playlist and go to the top right of the window. There will be a circle with BURN underneight it. Click the circle and it'll burn.

[Wonder Boy]

until we see itunes preinstalled in g5 powebooks, nobody will care.

[fixyourthinking]

I wonder if this will have a connection to a European Music Store launch too?

Hp is much further international reaching business than Apple and I suspect that HP's export system is much more streamlined.

[nuckinfutz]

Currently Apple is at 50m songs sold at a current rate of 2.5m a week (i.e., there is growth still as that is 50m every 20 weeks, or 140m a year). Assume 3m a week for the next 6 weeks, and Apple will have sold nearly 70m songs by the time they said they wanted to sell 100m.

Still, that isn't too bad. Especially since there is that 100m Pepsi song promotion that might have cost quite a few sales that would have happened otherwise.

Steve Jobs stated that the 100 Million in sales by iTMS anniversary would included the Pepsi promotion.

With a pepsi redemption rate of 33% Apple hits the 100 million pretty easy. I know I might have like 50 bottle caps redeemed by them. I'm tilting bottles like mad!

[Dont Hurt Me]

Apple should make ilife for windows, it would be a big hit and apple could pull in all kinds of revenue.

[strider42]

Apple should make ilife for windows, it would be a big hit and apple could pull in all kinds of revenue.

revenue perhaps, but no profit. 50 bucks for all those apps isn't much, considering the R&D, testing and programming needed to port the programs to windows and support the myriad of configurations out there. Apple doesn't make a dime on iLife in all likelihood. and there are plenty of PC programs out there that do the same thing. Maybe not as well, but they are there and often preinstalled, so whats the point.

[howard]

if apple made ilife for pc's it would have to cost a LOT more than $50 thats for sure, one of the reasons we pay a high price for macs is for the software. with whats included in ilife pc users should pay as much as $200+ at the least!

[Dont Hurt Me]

I think they could sell it for $99.00 and make a nice profit and they would be able to sell a lot of them. does windows xp home or professional come with anything like the ilife apps?

[fixyourthinking]

if apple made ilife for pc's it would have to cost a LOT more than $50 thats for sure, one of the reasons we pay a high price for macs is for the software. with whats included in ilife pc users should pay as much as $200+ at the least!

In fact; you pay below cost for software included on Macs. Remember, Macs are made by the same company that makes the OS.

In my eye, you pay for:

1) Quality
2) To keep Apple in business - they have the highest profit margin of ANYONE in the tech industry at 27.5% average
3) You pay for longevity vs other offerings

Why would you "want to keep Apple in business"? - it sounds silly, but you know the answer.

[manu chao]

Steve Jobs stated that the 100 Million in sales by iTMS anniversary would included the Pepsi promotion.

With a pepsi redemption rate of 33% Apple hits the 100 million pretty easy. I know I might have like 50 bottle caps redeemed by them. I'm tilting bottles like mad!

Interestingly, everybody interprets Steve's words (... but what if that still doesn't get us to 100 million songs? What are we gonna do? Well, we're gonna do a third thing. We're gonna give away 100 million songs.) the same way. To me it is not at all clear want he meant, you could as well interpret these words as, 'we gonna give away 100 million songs, and that will create enough publicity and new customers so that we can achieve the goal of selling 100 million songs'. I'm not saying the first interpretation is wrong, you simply can't say for sure what he had in mind or whether he deliberatly did not state clearly whether the Pepsi songs would be part of the 100 million goal.

[aftk2]

also, the 50 million figure does not include any of the pepsi song numbers....i expect they will save that for april 28th to show how far they exceeded 100 million songs. my guess is they will get about 105 million songs by then, everything included.

I applaud your optimism, but it looks like Jobs doesn't think it'll happen (http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/03/16/itunes/). :(

[Trimix]

Interestingly, everybody interprets Steve's words (... but what if that still doesn't get us to 100 million songs? What are we gonna do? Well, we're gonna do a third thing. We're gonna give away 100 million songs.) the same way. To me it is not at all clear want he meant, you could as well interpret these words as, 'we gonna give away 100 million songs, and that will create enough publicity and new customers so that we can achieve the goal of selling 100 million songs'. I'm not saying the first interpretation is wrong, you simply can't say for sure what he had in mind or whether he deliberatly did not state clearly whether the Pepsi songs would be part of the 100 million goal.

how about if apple take some of their cash and buy 50 million songs themselves ? They get what, 20cents on the dollar or so ? They will reach 100 million, and the advertisement will have cost them approx 40 million - cheap advertisement if you ask me, to leave all the other services in the dust :)

[wdlove]

I applaud your optimism, but it looks like Jobs doesn't think it'll happen (http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/03/16/itunes/). :(

We still have the good news of HP pre-installing iTunes, it will be a great world wide effort.

Maybe Steve is downplaying expectations, so that if the goal is reached it will look even more spectacular. We just need more bottle tilters and redeemers. Still have a month and a half to reach the 100 million mark.

[obeygiant]

Dude,
Let me set up this metephor.
There is this vast plain of concrete that's impenetrable. Then little by little a tiny crack begins and starts to rip through the concrete until its broken in half.

Apple is gaining on world domination one crack at a time. It won't be long beofre hackers start writing viruses for mac...

ching ching

[centauratlas]

I wonder if this will have a connection to a European Music Store launch too?
Hp is much further international reaching business than Apple and I suspect that HP's export system is much more streamlined.

The problem is not a technical, exporting, marketing or any other Apple problem. The problem is multi-fold, primarily dealing with governmental and legal issues outside the US. Apple has to have the electronic distribution rights to every song included on the iTMS. Given the paternalistic nature (even worse than here) of governments they are dealing with, it will take time to secure those rights from all (very very very many) the current rights holders in each country and region.

All the people complaining about Apple being so slow to support their non-US country need to look to their own countries as being the major slowdown. If Apple could have secured the rights a year ago, they'd have launched a year ago. They WANT the market, it is just a question of being legally able to do it.

[billyboy]

Dude,
Let me set up this metephor.
There is this vast plain of concrete that's impenetrable. Then little by little a tiny crack begins and starts to rip through the concrete until its broken in half.

Apple is gaining on world domination one crack at a time. It won't be long beofre hackers start writing viruses for mac...

ching ching

The viruses will be on the PC side of Apples software equation. We are alright :D

[rhpenguin]

I already posted this earlier. Post #31 from "HP Music Website and HP iTunes" post (the last news item on the main page). Just waiting to see if Im going to be offering any inhouse support for the iPod or if us HP/Compaq employees are going to get one :)

[JohnGillilan]

Does anyone know if Apple users can buy an hPod if they prefer the blue and use it with their Mac??

[Dave the Great]

I just read this story http://money.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040316/0548600899.htm&photoid=20040315LA102

Basically, people at Starbucks can now purchase music for 99 cents offered through HP. Is this iTunes?

[Royal Pineapple]

I just read this story http://money.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?floc=FF-RTO-PLS&idq=/ff/story/0002/20040316/0548600899.htm&photoid=20040315LA102

Basically, people at Starbucks can now purchase music for 99 cents offered through HP. Is this iTunes?
no mention of apple, it did claim that HP wrote the software, methinks apple ought to hit this market up aswell

[shen]

no mention of apple, it did claim that HP wrote the software, methinks apple ought to hit this market up aswell

so, what you are saying, is HP has the software and store, but choose only to offer it through Starbucks, and offer Apples iTMS on their machines?

no offense, but a little logic says this is iTMS on these HP pads at the coffee shop, unless they specifically say otherwise. doing otherwise makes no sense at all.

[welborn]

HP needs to make Macs. Apple should contract with companies like HP and Sony to make or sell Mac hardware.

That would go a long way in seeing Macs go back into offices, when companies would no longer feel like they are stuck with one supplier for Macs.

Then, the marketing could be spread around. Imagine a commercial for an HP computer comes on, with a little "Mac Inside" logo.

I think it's once again the right time.

[elo]

HP needs to make Macs. Apple should contract with companies like HP and Sony to make or sell Mac hardware.

That would go a long way in seeing Macs go back into offices, when companies would no longer feel like they are stuck with one supplier for Macs.

Then, the marketing could be spread around. Imagine a commercial for an HP computer comes on, with a little "Mac Inside" logo.

I think it's once again the right time.

Think that if you want, but no sane business model would have a company with less than a 5% market share license its product to others. Apple would be dead in a month.

No one, least of all Apple's management, is oblivious to the benefits of licensing. But this most definitely is not the time.

elo

[zamyatin]

The problem is not a technical, exporting, marketing or any other Apple problem. The problem is multi-fold, primarily dealing with governmental and legal issues outside the US. Apple has to have the electronic distribution rights to every song included on the iTMS. Given the paternalistic nature (even worse than here) of governments they are dealing with, it will take time to secure those rights from all (very very very many) the current rights holders in each country and region.

I think it's not the governments, but the corporate owners who want their product to have different distribution rules in different countries. This way they can practice price discrimination (economics term that means different prices for different customers, for the same product) and raise their profits a bit.

Philosophically, I find it interesting and sad when people attack governments as our greatest nemeses. Historically, it's true that governments have been the most powerful agents to control people's lives (in positive or negative ways). Now, because we've been so successful in keeping governments from gaining too much power (in the West, and especially the USA), a new and more insidious force has arisen: corporations and oligopolies. They can push around our governments and rip off our fellow citizens. And they don't even have the formality of being elected to possibly staunch their creeping expansion of power. If 1984, Brave New World, or We were written today, the antagonists would not be governments. They would be Microsoft, Enron, etc. (Check out Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars for example.)

[shemp9999]

does this mean they will pre-install quicktime, too (for AAC support) - or do they already do that? (i've never bought a PC)

[BurntCalc]

Steve Jobs stated that the 100 Million in sales by iTMS anniversary would included the Pepsi promotion.

With a pepsi redemption rate of 33% Apple hits the 100 million pretty easy. I know I might have like 50 bottle caps redeemed by them. I'm tilting bottles like mad!

Apple won't hit the 100 million song mark.

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/03/16/itunes/

The Pepsi redemption rate is pretty abysmal. They may get up to 76 million to 80 million at best.

[jsw]

I think they could sell it for $99.00 and make a nice profit and they would be able to sell a lot of them. does windows xp home or professional come with anything like the ilife apps?

Keep in mind that iLife is intended to leverage sales of Macs ("look what you can't get on a PC!") and so selling iLife (or any of the other cool Mac-included software) on PC's would probably reduce Mac sales by reducing the perceived benefit of buying a Mac - Apple would much rather you buy a Mac than earn $100 profit (if that) on an iLife sale for your $500 HP PC.

On the other hand, iTunes leverages iPod and Music Store sales, and so it helps Apple to have it everywhere they can put it.

[vpalvarez]

so, what you are saying, is HP has the software and store, but choose only to offer it through Starbucks, and offer Apples iTMS on their machines?

no offense, but a little logic says this is iTMS on these HP pads at the coffee shop, unless they specifically say otherwise. doing otherwise makes no sense at all.

It is alittle different what is going to happen is that Starbucks provide the music (not much) and then HP provides the PCs maintainence (HP will probably outsource the software.) For $6.95 you get 5 songs and thenm a dollar per song after that. When you choose all of the songs you get a cd burt specifically for you. It is in no means an HP store, merely a Kiosk of sorts. And it will only be in about 30 store before 2006