iTunes Digital Gift Cards Now Available Through Facebook

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

iTunes and Amazon are both stores.

The Amazon company owns Amazon store.
The Apple company owns the iTunes store.

I'm talking about the stores, you can't just cherry-pick stuff from the left and the right and mix them together. Pick a side.



You're the one who indicated that what a store is named tells you what they're supposed to sell.

I'm simply asking, does that apply to all stores? (Target?) If not, why not? Why just iTunes?



Well, explain to me why Amazon and Target are allowed to sell anything, but iTunes is only allowed to sell Tunes.

Once I have a good answer to that question I'll take back my silly statement.

Amazon has never sold "amazonian" items. It started off selling books, no? Not remotely related. So there was never a connection. ETA In fact the logo implies that they sell everything from A to Z. An intentional graphic reference.

Target - never sold targets. Always sold lots of items.

iTunes - was branded because it sold music. It no longer sells just music.

Even Apple changed its name. Remember when it was called Apple Computers. Why did they change? Because the focus of the company wasn't only on Computers.

iTunes is no longer focused on just music.

[mrgraff]

Originally Posted by coolfactor

In 5 years, it'll be "Please hold still while I scan your retinas"...

It will probably get to the point that you will be scanned as you walk into the store. You could then grab whatever you want, and provided you have sufficient funds, you could walk out with your purchases with your account already debited.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by samcraig

Even Apple changed its name. Remember when it was called Apple Computers. Why did they change? Because the focus of the company wasn't only on Computers.

So a company named 'Apple' can sell computers without apples in them, and that's ok.

But a store names 'iTunes' can't sell things that don't have tunes in them.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here. I'm not sure why you think one of these is confusing and the other isn't (they sound the same to me), but that's how you see it, I guess.

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

So a company named 'Apple' can sell computers without apples in them, and that's ok.

But a store names 'iTunes' can't sell things that don't have tunes in them.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here. I'm not sure why you think one of these is confusing and the other isn't, but that's how you see it, I guess.

I never said it was confusing. I said the name was limited/limiting.

And the fact that you can't see the difference between iTunes vs every other example is funny to me.

But you keep on enjoying the iTunes name. I doubt they would change it anyway.

[ck2875]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

So a company named 'Apple' can sell computers without apples in them, and that's ok.

But a store names 'iTunes' can't sell things that don't have tunes in them.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here. I'm not sure why you think one of these is confusing and the other isn't (they sound the same to me), but that's how you see it, I guess.

I think you're missing his point.

[rmwebs]

Big deal.

[Small White Car]

Originally Posted by ck2875

I think you're missing his point.

Definitely

[mentaluproar]

Originally Posted by samcraig

I'm surprised that you can't gift a specific song, movie or App - rather than a specific amount. Maybe that will be down the pike. Or maybe Apple doesn't want to give up a % of the revenue of people doing that via iTunes.

You can already do that as long as you know the other person's email address. I've used it with friends and family members before. Pretty handy.

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by mentaluproar

You can already do that as long as you know the other person's email address. I've used it with friends and family members before. Pretty handy.

via facebook? I thought it was only via iTunes (on your computer, via web or iDevice)

[mentaluproar]

Originally Posted by samcraig

via facebook? I thought it was only via iTunes (on your computer, via web or iDevice)

You mean by using your friends list rather than the email address? I see the appeal, but I can't see a clean way of doing that yet.

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by mentaluproar

You mean by using your friends list rather than the email address? I see the appeal, but I can't see a clean way of doing that yet.

Well what I meant is - being on FB and gifting something specific to a FB friend.

Maybe I played something on spotify or whatever and it's on my FB feed. I click on that post and am able to gift that song to you (for example).

Or maybe I made a FB post about an App or Movie or Book and you asked whether or not I would recommend it. I could then gift it to you via FB.

Just two examples/use cases.

[wolfshades]

Originally Posted by ZacNicholson

this is kind of cool. i think its mostly for those teen girls who just never leave facebook though

Nope. There's a generation out there now who mostly use Facebook for their online socializing. Email (apparently) is for the older generation. My kids are grown up and that's all they use.

This is therefore - I think - a pretty cool idea.

[Thunderhawks]

Originally Posted by AdeFowler

Why change the name of something that everyone's familiar with? That would be marketing madness.

I suggest gradual transition, so nobody gets hurt:

iTunes
iStunes
iStufes
iStuffe
iStuff

[Pakaku]

Originally Posted by rorschach

Why do people act like the entire company only works on one thing at a time?

Every time there's news about something, people who don't like it inevitably make this kind of comment.

Apple has thousands of employees working on many different projects. Hardware engineers aren't taken away from the next MBP to litigate in court. iTunes developers are not dropping what they're working on to negotiate a partner ship with Facebook.

Apple, stop wasting your time on this and get back to the Mac Pros

[ifij775]

Linking up with Facebook can only help Apple. Hopefully this will help drive interest in apple devices and services.

[rmwebs]

It's funny. I'd trust Google a hell of a lot more than Facebook!

[somethingelsefl]

Oh good! Just what the iTunes gift cards needed: obnoxious notifications and wall posts.

[mentaluproar]

The facebookification (tm) of the internet annoys me. Aside from spam, which hits facebook too, was email that bad?

[writingdevil]

Originally Posted by samcraig

I never said it was confusing. I said the name was limited/limiting.

And the fact that you can't see the difference between iTunes vs every other example is funny to me.

But you keep on enjoying the iTunes name. I doubt they would change it anyway.

Your posts seem very logical..and your comments ("But you keep on enjoying the iTunes name" and "The fact that you can't see the difference between iTunes vs every other example is funny to me") both remind me of my old maid aunt Adele, who drives her snippy logic into the ground daily.

As far as marketing and building a brand goes, logic doesn't win out at the end of the race.
From previous posts you might keep hanging on and on, but I'm out.

EDIT: i have been chastised by my gf for referring to my 'old maid aunt'. She said it sounded sexist and also a slam at the poster, which it was not, because my aunt is that way, but I hereby withdraw my aunt reference and change it to my retired high school teacher uncle. (OK, sweetie?)

[topmounter]

People still log in to Facebook?

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by Pakaku

Apple, stop wasting your time on this and get back to the Mac Pros

There's so much power packed into current Macs, no wonder they are taking their time with a new Mac Pro. If only they would make Xgrid a standard feature, homes and businesses with multiple Macs could share the computing power across several machines completely behind the scenes. That would be wicked.

----------

Originally Posted by topmounter

People still log in to Facebook?

Addiction, not necessity.

[lunaoso]

Originally Posted by samcraig

A) I hope not
B) They need to change the name of iTunes. Long overdue, no? They sell books, movies, apps, etc. iTunes is limiting.

We should change the iPhone to be called the iMediaphonetextwebapploaderioscameraebookreader while we're at it.

[coolfactor]

Originally Posted by samcraig

A) I hope not
B) They need to change the name of iTunes. Long overdue, no? They sell books, movies, apps, etc. iTunes is limiting.

Broaden your mind... iTunes - the place where you "tune" into something - a song, a movie, a TV show, an app, a book. The definition of "tune" isn't limited to music. Do you remember "TV tuners"? haha

[you people smh]

Originally Posted by Small White Car

I think we're 5 years out from store clerks asking "Visa, Mastercard, or iTunes?"

In all 3 cases you'll make the transaction using an app on your phone, but my point is that Apple will soon be seen equally as 'Device Maker,' 'Media Seller,' and 'Credit Card Company.'

Other than the wholly overlooked fact that iTunes is linked to a "visa or mastercard"... Highly doubt that any retailer will want to pay apple a premium on top of the premium they are already paying to the card companies.

[writingdevil]

Originally Posted by topmounter

People still log in to Facebook?

yeah, a measly 552 million daily