Apple Creates New iPod Division

[bobringer]

Where does the lunacy on this thread come from?

Apple is going to spin off the iPod to protect itselft from Apple Corps?

Man, there must be some good drugs out there. Worst case scenario... Apple Corps gets everything they want (short of stopping Apple from leaving the music business)... there is NO WAY Apple will have to pay enough to make a dent in ONE QUARTER worth of iPod revenues.

I guess this is the "easy" topic to discuss? It hadn't even come to mind when I posted about it on my site (a longer post on my site will probably be posted tomorrow).


Who ever said Tim Cook was a marketing guy? He is NOT a marketing guy... Tim Cook is an OPERATIONS guy (who is also head of Sales at Apple for some reason, would have thought Schiller would have this role... I digress). Tim Cook is the guy that streamlined Apple's operations when they stole him from Compaq. Greatly increased their inventory turns, cut costs, improved quality, etc, etc, etc... I remember very well watching the operational changes that happened at Apple when he came on board. He is NOT a marketing guy. Look at his background.

Still, I would think his new position requires a technical visionary... which he is not. I mention this on my site too.

Bizarre...

 

[JOD8FY]

I think this is good new for Apple. Now that there is a division working only on the iPod, we will start to see some major improvements. Do you think that now Apple can focus more on its other machines and release product updates more frequently? This would be great!

One thing I'd like to see in an iPod is the ability to transfer songs via bluetooth back and forth between the iPod and iTunes. Of course, then there's the issue of transfer speeds, but Apple would come up with something, I'm sure.

Best wishes,
JOD8FY

 

[doogle]

I am going to blow my own trumpet a bit (forgive my indulgence).
Posted 02/25/04, Forum: Napster at 5 Million Songs

"Its all about music right now. I have suggested it in the past (and been laughed at - go ahead please - I like entertaining) it may not be an impossibility to see iTunes (iTMS) and iPod as a separate Apple company - break the Apple brand from the devices and software and place it under iTunes/iPod and you have a new business (just look at the lack of Apple logo in the Pepsi ad and Apple-less HPod)"

...its on the horizon!

 

[mvc]

Good news, but the beginning of major changes to come

This is very good news because Apple are recognising that their major future growth area for computing is in the handheld / portable /device arena.

Home PC's are a mature technology, but in fact they are due for replacement by a superior paradigm which has not yet emerged but will probably look more like appliances and furniture than your traditional PC.

The only reason we have stand alone home PC's at all is because the display and communications technology twenty years ago was NOT integrated wirelessly or running at a high enough quality. TV's were too low resolution to use for word processing, even though we did use them in the early days with commodore 64's etc for games. So instead we adopted business technology and tried to make it fit the home, but it has always been a poor fit.

Everthing with electricity running through it can and will be a computer soon, and will talk to everything else wirelessly, many already do, so why buy a stand alone desktop PC in 2010?

All you will need is your wireless keyboard/tablet/mouse/gamecontroller/voice control/gesture control or whatever and whichever screen/speaker combination is nearest to you will automatically display your data/game/video.

Computing will become even more of a commodity, and the devices will be like appliances, and will have to work together with other manufacturers devices like appliances do now. This will result in Apple Computer coming increasing to resemble Sony.

But in the area of portable devices, the needs are very different. They require far more engineering and interface panache, as the natural size and screen/power/weight limitations demand elegant solutions. This is the prime reason why the iPod is successful, and this has always been Apples strength.

They didn't brand it an iPod just to make music players, expect iPods to become a wide range of well designed portable computing/media/communications devices over the next 5 yrs

And expect the iMacs successor to resemble something more like a home theatre component. Then it really will be a headless iMac ;-)

 

[iMeowbot]

I don't see this happening.. Today the APPLE stamped on the products is the thing that sells them so well (is it not?).

I wonder about that. In two separate recent conversations with people that touched on that kind of stuff, the people I was talking to knew about or wanted iPods, but when I mentioned that I use Apple computers the response both times was along the lines of "wow, I remember Apple from a long time ago, are they still in business?"

True, two people don't make a trend, but I thought the disconnect was pretty interesting.

 

[applefans]

No more lawsuit from Apple on music?

Reuters reports that Apple has spun off iPod development into its own division within the company.

The move was made in response to an internal company-wide email from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The new division will be headed by Jon Rubenstein, current leader of hardware engineering efforts. The division also makes way for a "Macintosh" division to be headed by Timothy Cook, current head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, according to Reuters.

Quoted from an Apple spokesperson:

Since its introduction in October 2001, more than 3 million iPods have been sold.

The next logical step is to spun off ipod and iTMS into a separate company that apple control, then, the guy from apple corp (a la Paul McCartney et al) may stop sueing Apple for breach of contract forever. Isn't that sound logical?

The new company may even have an IPO, I'm interested to invest, give me a chance!

 

[applefans]

IPO'd the ipod, and use the money to buy Apple corp

You cynic..

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple decided to settle this issue once and for all - by trying to win in court; or a large once-off, out-of-court settlement; or just buying Apple Corps.

The music business is far too important for Apple now, to have a dispute still looming over their trading name, logo and business type.

The next step: IPO'd the ipod division, then use the money to buy Apple corp, and put the whole Beatles catalogue in iTMS and only iTMS

 

[Windowlicker]

I wonder about that. In two separate recent conversations with people that touched on that kind of stuff, the people I was talking to knew about or wanted iPods, but when I mentioned that I use Apple computers the response both times was along the lines of "wow, I remember Apple from a long time ago, are they still in business?"

True, two people don't make a trend, but I thought the disconnect was pretty interesting.

so it seems like I have to change my mind a little. still, if it comes to computers the apple logo is the thing. people will know they get easy-to-use quality when they see this logo. seems like its not quite the case with iPods.

 

[dontmatter]

so it seems like I have to change my mind a little. still, if it comes to computers the apple logo is the thing. people will know they get easy-to-use quality when they see this logo. seems like its not quite the case with iPods.

eh, who knows? we're mac fanatics we can't evaluate the real world. My experience is, yeah, a good portion of people go "mac? huh?" and a good portion of people go "yeah, mac. they got the whole hipster thing going, and good hardware and software...but, eh, not for me"

 

[SiliconAddict]

Apple is going to spin off the iPod to protect itselft from Apple Corps?

Man, there must be some good drugs out there. Worst case scenario... Apple Corps gets everything they want (short of stopping Apple from leaving the music business)... there is NO WAY Apple will have to pay enough to make a dent in ONE QUARTER worth of iPod revenues.

Dude you know nothing about what they would ask for. They may very well ask for a cease and desist as in:
"Yo Apple. We told you to not dink in the music industry. Stop it now."

Depends on how stupid they are about this. Spinning off iTunes and the iPod could very well succeed in distancing the products away from Apple to the point that Apple Corps wouldn't have a case against them.

Or what if Apple corps asks for 30% of Apple's iPod and iTunes earnings? Do you think 30% wouldn't hurt like hell?

This very well could be a strategic move on Apple's part. Not saying it is or it isn't but it’s a possibility.

 

[SiliconAddict]

The next logical step is to spun off ipod and iTMS into a separate company that apple control, then, the guy from apple corp (a la Paul McCartney et al) may stop sueing Apple for breach of contract forever. Isn't that sound logical?

Only if they spin off iTunes and iTMS with the iPod. Both of which are probably giving Apple Corps more of a fit then the iPod. iPod is simply a music player and portable hard drive. It could be argued that the Mac does the same functions as the iPod. iTunes and iTMS provides content and that is probably what is irking Apple Corps. Also correct me if I'm wrong on this but hadn't the iPod been out for a year and there wasn't any legal wrangling with Apple Corps? It wasn't until iTMS debuted when the talk of lawsuit occurred.

 

[socbyset]

hm

Dude you know nothing about what they would ask for. They may very well ask for a cease and desist as in:
"Yo Apple. We told you to not dink in the music industry. Stop it now."

...

This seems unlikely to me. That would be assume that they would rather shut down itunes, basically out of spite, than settle for millions of dollars. My understanding is that the whole point of all this is to extract money from Apple. I mean, they aren't really losing anything from Apple being in the music business. They don't sell any "apple"-branded product or anything.

 

[whooleytoo]

Isn't it odd though, probably the top hardware engineer in Apple (Rubenstein), heading a division with just two products - iPod and iPod mini. Both of which are built mostly of off-the-shelf components with no ASICs from Apple (that I'm aware of).

Surely, this must be the clearest sign yet that Apple has plans for the iPod line beyond just music.

 

[iMeowbot]

Isn't it odd though, probably the top hardware engineer in Apple (Rubenstein), heading a division with just two products - iPod and iPod mini. Both of which are built mostly of off-the-shelf components with no ASICs from Apple (that I'm aware of).

If you look at the histories of Rubenstein and Cook, both have been operations executives over the years in a variety of roles. Cook ran the supply chain operations at Compaq, then went to head up ops at Apple before the marketing responsibility was added. Rubenstein was heading up overall ops at Firepower between his NeXT and Apple stints.

The assignments make some sense to me. Rubenstein comes from more of a startup culture, and that suggests a good fit with a young product line like iPod. Cook comes from more of a big company background, and has exactly the sort of experience the computer division needs to address one of its major weaknesses, getting product through the system and out the door.

Surely, this must be the clearest sign yet that Apple has plans for the iPod line beyond just music.

There's an opportunity for a better focus to go into both divisions here, which is great. Growing the two product categories more independently has been due for a while now.

 

[bar italia]

It hadn't even come to mind when I posted about it on my site (a longer post on my site will probably be posted tomorrow).

I'm giddy with anticipation!

 

[whooleytoo]

The assignments make some sense to me. Rubenstein comes from more of a startup culture, and that suggests a good fit with a young product line like iPod. Cook comes from more of a big company background, and has exactly the sort of experience the computer division needs to address one of its major weaknesses, getting product through the system and out the door.

I think that's a fair assessment of their roles. Rubenstein as the guy at the heart of new product development is fine - great for the iPod division! It's the Cook bit that worries me. He's more of a cost/job cutter than someone who's going to provide/inspire/create innovation from the Mac division.

 

[multifinder]

There's an interesting take on the reorg in this article:

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040520.html

He's saying this could be a prelude to Apple getting out of the business of making Mac hardware--of course, in '97 things looked even worse and the demise of the Mac platform has been predicted (wrongly) a million times before, but he raises some good points. Why slug it out in a business where you have 3% of the market and in even your former strongholds (like education) cheaper Wintel hardware is eating your lunch? Why not become a high-end consumer electronics company, like Bose or a high-end profitable version of Sony, which is the direction the iPod is taking them? How much higher would Apple's P/E ratio be if it only sold iPods? Although with Steve's hatred of the clone years, I can't see them doing what Cringely mentions and scrapping h/w and just selling OS X for Intel.

The True Faithful will always buy Mac at any price, but dude, my wife is getting a Dell laptop because she needs to do work from home, too many websites "don't work right on Macs (meaning Safari)", and little things like hitting Command-C versus Control-C drive her nuts. For most people, the Mac vs. Windows difference isn't big enough anymore to justify the disadvantages of using one in an IE/Wintel centric world. I don't see Mac market share going anywhere but down no matter what new PowerMac or iMac revs they come out with, unless it's really something that appeals to the mass market, like a $999 headless iMac with a G5 that doesn't make you throw out your old monitor like the current crop of iMacs.

It's impossible to predict the future, but with PCs showing up in more and more formerly Mac-only niches and Linux poised to regalate the Mac to number 3 in the computer world, things don't look good...they'll take my PowerMac from my cold, dead hands, but here's hoping by the time it gives up the ghost I'll still be able to buy another Mac to replace it with.

 

[Doctor Q]

The True Faithful will always buy Mac at any price, but dude, my wife is getting a Dell laptop because she needs to do work from home, too many websites "don't work right on Macs (meaning Safari)", and little things like hitting Command-C versus Control-C drive her nuts.

I wonder if some people who frequent PCs and are occasional Mac users would like to have a hack to reverse the Control and Command keys? But I shudder to think how confused a regular Mac user would get!

 

[pjkelnhofer]

There's an interesting take on the reorg in this article:

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20040520.html

He's saying this could be a prelude to Apple getting out of the business of making Mac hardware--of course, in '97 things looked even worse and the demise of the Mac platform has been predicted (wrongly) a million times before, but he raises some good points.

I was just about to post the same article. He really does have some good points, but I think he does miss one key thing about the iPod. It is the only truly crossplatfrom device (and software when including iTunes) that Apple makes. So why have it lumped into the Mac division when it needs to work equally well with Windows.

I also agree that it seems odd to have an entire division with two products (iPod and iPod mini). I would not be suprised to see some more high-end "digital lifestyle" products come from Apple. I am not even going to list any ideas as to what they may be (for fear of getting trashed).

As far as Cook being labelled a "marketing guy" by a lot of the posters here. That may be just what Apple needs. As good as the iPod TV commercials are, I do not really think that is what is fueling the popularity. It is simply the best digital music player on the market. While it may be pricey (I still can't justify $250 for a walkman), it is in line with the prices of similar devices.

Let's face it, the "switch" campaign failed to get switchers. Apple has what may be it's best operating system ever, fantastic hardware and still is losing market share because many people look at it as overpriced. Maybe the new Mac division will realize it is not enough to make a better computer. They need to make a better computer that cost the same as the Windows you can get at Dell, Compaq, etc. This means something at the $500 price point. Maybe that is something a former Compaq guy will bring to the table.

It could be a 1 GHz G4 with 128 MB of RAM, a 40 GB HD and no monitor, but it would get more people to at least look at the Mac (then they convince them to upgrade everything and they will end up spending the $800 they would have on the combo-drive eMac). However, if they never saw the (starting at) $499* sign, they would not have walked into the Applestore in the first place.

 

[pjkelnhofer]

I wonder if some people who frequent PCs and are occasional Mac users would like to have a hack to reverse the Control and Command keys? But I shudder to think how confused a regular Mac user would get!

I go between Mac's and PC's throughout the day, both at home and at work. I although I do occasionally mix up the two keys, 99.9% of the time, I have no problems.

 

[paulsecic]

Why not? Makes sense.

Hopefully this means more frequent computer updates.

 

[paulsecic]

This sounds like a great idea. I don't think, however, that the logical next step is for the music company to spin off entirely. I see this as more of internal office improvements, let the company get back to it's focus on computers, which seems to have fallen behind as of late, while still allowing for the iPod to move forward. They wouldn't spin off entirely because the apple name on the iPod is still a big strategy for PC->Mac switching.

One of the arguments i use with people whom i am trying to get to switch is i have them try out my iPod and iTunes (or they have it themselves already) and say, "If these are so easy yet so powerful, imagine the operating system. It's the same! Every program on the machine runs like itunes and ipod software, and every bit of the machine itself runs like an ipod: with form, fun, and function."

Mark

It does. Every program looks & feels the same, unlike Gate's slop!

 

[multifinder]

I go between Mac's and PC's throughout the day, both at home and at work. I although I do occasionally mix up the two keys, 99.9% of the time, I have no problems.

I don't either, and I have my work laptop literally right next to my Mac--but I think for people who spend a less equal amount of time on the two (lots of time on a PC at work, Mac at home for browsing/etc) it's a bigger deal. It'd be nice if Apple had thought a little less different in this case...I think the little differences like this aren't better or worse but are different from what PC people are used to drive away potential switchers. A "Windows compatibility mode" which would put close on the right instead of the left of the titlebar and Control and Command swapped might be good for people like that...(kind of like how MS Word used to have a "WordPerfect mode" with the same keyboard shortcuts and the white-on-blue text). I don't see it happening though, not from Apple at least...

 

[~Shard~]

I am going to blow my own trumpet a bit (forgive my indulgence).
Posted 02/25/04, Forum: Napster at 5 Million Songs

"Its all about music right now. I have suggested it in the past (and been laughed at - go ahead please - I like entertaining) it may not be an impossibility to see iTunes (iTMS) and iPod as a separate Apple company - break the Apple brand from the devices and software and place it under iTunes/iPod and you have a new business (just look at the lack of Apple logo in the Pepsi ad and Apple-less HPod)"

...its on the horizon!

So what do you want, a cookie?

 

[weldon]

It's the Cook bit that worries me. He's more of a cost/job cutter than someone who's going to provide/inspire/create innovation from the Mac division.

And you think Apple's highest ranks needs another strong-willed, creative visionary that insists on putting his own personal stamp on the development of new products in the Mac division?

I know that's not what you said, but I think it makes a lot more sense to put someone with some discipline and operational expertise in this post and let Jobs be the visionary that he wants to be. It sounds like Jobs has picked someone to watch over the bread-and-butter business of Apple that will complement his abilities and style.