Digital King May Lose Its Crown (CNN)

[MacBytes]

Category: Apple Services
Link: Digital King May Lose Its Crown (CNN)

Posted on MacBytes.com
Approved by Mudbug

[winmacguy]

They are right about not everybody who owns an iPod useing the Music store for their tracks, especially in NZ and Aus where there is no music store yet. I think a lot of other people probably just rip the tracks from their large CD collections onto their iPods.

[J-Squire]

"It's a monologue with them," one label executive who asked not to be identified says. "They pretty much say, 'This is what we want to do,' and if you disagree with them you're an idiot. It's like dealing with a cult."

But look at all the other companies who you ARE in two-way discussions with. They SUCK, and are not doing anything useful. They are in no sense successful. I really fail to see the issue with Apple's pig headedness when it is the only option that is working, and it is absolutely blowing the competition away. Online music stores would still be the dismal failure today that they were 3 years ago if not for iTunes. No other music service has made an impact on the way we purchase music.

The first step to chipping away at Apple's dominance is for a competitor to introduce a device that can capture the public's imagination as the iPod has.

....what a genius. Like nobody had thought of that. It's one thing to say "this is what needs to be done", and another thing to actually do it.

Samsung has stated its intention to take 10 percent of the MP3 market this year, and aims to become the global leader by 2007. That is a tall order. Even a company representative, speaking on condition of anonymity, calls such success unlikely.

.....I just found that plain funny. Great confidence in your product and goals.

But Samsung has a history of successfully challenging seemingly invincible market leaders and succeeding. Ten years ago, the company brashly took on Sony in the broad field of consumer electronics, and has since surpassed Sony on InterBrand's top 100 recognizable global brands list at No. 20 -- a 19 percent gain. Sony is No. 28.

Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple is no Sony. Apple has something that Sony really never had - fashion

[Nermal]

Originally Posted by MacBytes

Digital King May Lose Its Crown (CNN)

Am I the only one who interpreted this as "CNN is going down"?

[Passante]

Originally Posted by Nermal

Am I the only one who interpreted this as "CNN is going down"?

Yes and CNN Headline news suxks under its new management. They almost make Fox news watchable.

Like Joni said, You don't know what you got 'till its gone.

[shamino]

Originally Posted by J-Squire

Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple is no Sony. Apple has something that Sony really never had - fashion

Sony's got quite a lot of fashion. Their industrial design is great.

Sony's problem is that the actual functionality and reliability of those devices is terrible. So you end up with a really great-looking boat anchor.

I know several Sony owners. None have complained about the industrial design. All have complained about frequent crashes, useless tech support, and hideously expensive repair/parts costs.

[outerspaceapple]

Originally Posted by Nermal

Am I the only one who interpreted this as "CNN is going down"?

Yah, thats what the title reminded me of first too...

[stridey]

Originally Posted by winmacguy

They are right about not everybody who owns an iPod useing the Music store for their tracks, especially in NZ and Aus where there is no music store yet. I think a lot of other people probably just rip the tracks from their large CD collections onto their iPods.

That's not really a factor, though. The iTMS doesn't make (significant) money (for Apple) anyway, it's really just a marketing technique for the iPod.

[sjk]

Originally Posted by Nermal

Am I the only one who interpreted this as "CNN is going down"?

Yeah, seeing the "Apple's iPod MP3 player" caption under the photo was the first clue that the article would be as shallow as it was, avoiding any mention of AAC and it being iTMS's distribution format. Most music on my wife's iPod is in AAC format, mostly ripped and some purchased.

[macnulty]

Someone really needs to keep count of iPod/iTunes is doomed articles ala the "Apple Death Count" at MacObserver, and I would like to nominate someone else.

[awal]

I love the irony of some unnamed "music business representative" bagging on Apple because they "have ignored all of their (great suggestions)."

This, of course, is the same music industry that had to be begged, threatened and cajoled into even participating in iTunes in the first place. This is the same music business that still does everything it can (either intentionally or unintentionally) to inhibit the growth of online sales.

Let me see if I can guess what their great suggestions to Apple were:

Music guy: What if we increase the cost of each song to $2.49? Wouldn't that be great?

Apple: Beat it.

Music guy: Man, this is like dealing with a cult.

[zap2]

"The real battle is expected once Sony relaunches its failed Connect digital music store. "

key words

RElaunches
and
FAILED

[yellow]

Seriously, this is just another FUD call.

"It's inevitable that over time their market share declines," Piper Jaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster says. "It's safe to say that nobody can sustain an 80 percent market share in a consumer electronics business for more than two or three years. It's pretty much impossible."

Impossible. Totally. COUGH * MICROSOFT * COUGH