HP's Blue iPod Revealed

[montecristo]

iTMS is the big deal, not the hPOD

Most people seem to be focusing on the blue-pod (which I think is ugly, but just matches their printer covers), but I think the big deal for Apple is the pre-installation of iTMS on every HP computer. This tactic is exactly how MS-DOS got so big and how Internet Explorer ended up dominating. People who have not already decided for themselves to enter into downloaded music or computer jukeboxes will have the decision thrust upon them when they buy the HP computers -- at that point, Apple has already won, whether the consumer buys the hPod or the iPod, because at that point, these are the only two options that work with iTunes. (when iTunes is already pre-installed, very few people are going to actively seek out another jukebox software just so they can have the #2 player or #2 software out there...)

Those people who are actively thinking about buying an MP3 player already know about the iPod -- they are the savvy consumers and the addition of the hPod will not hurt Apple, because those folks will probably prefer the apple product anyway (unless they really like the blue/gray color, but then, Apple is preventing them from getting the Dell player or the Napster-Samsung player, if color was their main decision criteria).

So, the way I see it, Apple doesn't lose out. They retain control over their technology and they use the muscle and breadth of HP to get their iTMS/iTunes out to the masses.

 

[CrackedButter]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
It has been my experience that HP printers don't play well with Mac OS X, though. My family's all in one doesn't work with Panther, only Jaguar, and my girlfriend has tried two different kinds of HP printers, one of which came with her iMac when she bought it at CompUSA as a package deal. I always assumed that HP just didn't play well with Apple, so this is a bit of a surprise.

Strange, I have a HP and its worked well with 10.2 and 10.3, I even used it with linux. This is because HP supplies damn good drivers. But hey where's there pleasure there is also pain, and you might be experiencing the pain.

 

[airbag]

I'll bet this is just a brilliant move from Apple to get rid of 3G iPods, and make way for the 4th generation coming this summer!

Atleast I hope so. If not, I'm a bit puzzled by this new strategy...

 

[ITR 81]

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
It has been my experience that HP printers don't play well with Mac OS X, though. My family's all in one doesn't work with Panther, only Jaguar, and my girlfriend has tried two different kinds of HP printers, one of which came with her iMac when she bought it at CompUSA as a package deal. I always assumed that HP just didn't play well with Apple, so this is a bit of a surprise.

I've never have liked HP printers.
I've always recommended Canon printers though. With just the drivers off of Panther my 1 yr old Canon runs nearly perfect.

 

[Mr.Hey]

Re: WMA on iPod

Originally posted by PDubNYC
regardless of your opinion of Thurrott or whether WMA is a superior format, I think that it would be nothing but a good thing to support multiple formats. I have friends that have their music in WMA format (keep your knee-jerk reactions to yourselves) and that is the only thing holding them back from buying an iPod.

Bottom line, more formats=more customers for Apple.

What's more important here is the audio code. If Apple can't hold onto this then it doesn't matter what device is used if it can't play the popular audio code. It then becomes worthless and it won't matter to the end user how much it costs or what it looks like or who makes it. There was a real danger of this happening to Apple with the MS' service.


And Apple realized this and if they didn't do anything to change it this time the same thing would occur to AAC/iTMS/iPod that happened to their desktop line.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

Originally posted by SPG
Since you can already get an iPod for windows, I don't exactly get the need to make a blue one.

exactly!! the itunes liscense is one thing... this is another. i feel like it cheapens the whole product...

 

[QCassidy352]

Re: iTMS is the big deal, not the hPOD

Originally posted by montecristo
Most people seem to be focusing on the blue-pod (which I think is ugly, but just matches their printer covers), but I think the big deal for Apple is the pre-installation of iTMS on every HP computer. This tactic is exactly how MS-DOS got so big and how Internet Explorer ended up dominating. People who have not already decided for themselves to enter into downloaded music or computer jukeboxes will have the decision thrust upon them when they buy the HP computers -- at that point, Apple has already won, whether the consumer buys the hPod or the iPod, because at that point, these are the only two options that work with iTunes. (when iTunes is already pre-installed, very few people are going to actively seek out another jukebox software just so they can have the #2 player or #2 software out there...)

Those people who are actively thinking about buying an MP3 player already know about the iPod -- they are the savvy consumers and the addition of the hPod will not hurt Apple, because those folks will probably prefer the apple product anyway (unless they really like the blue/gray color, but then, Apple is preventing them from getting the Dell player or the Napster-Samsung player, if color was their main decision criteria).

So, the way I see it, Apple doesn't lose out. They retain control over their technology and they use the muscle and breadth of HP to get their iTMS/iTunes out to the masses.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I think this can only be a positive for apple.

 

[montecristo]

Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
exactly!! the itunes liscense is one thing... this is another. i feel like it cheapens the whole product...

Giving HP the iPod may have been what it took to get iTunes on every HP (you can't get something for nuthin'). But Apple probably also figured that, "Hey if we don't make the iPod for them, they'll just enter the market with something else, another competitor to the iPod, and they might not support iTunes."

 

[QCassidy352]

Originally posted by gwuMACaddict
exactly!! the itunes liscense is one thing... this is another. i feel like it cheapens the whole product...

but I'm sure that HP would not have been interested without the ipod license in addition to the iTMS. iTunes doesn't make HP any money - unless having it encourages people to buy another product that is itself profitable - like the HP ipod.

So why would HP have gone along with this if all they got was an iTMS license? That really does them no good, by itself...

 

[Bunzi2k4]

Originally posted by szark
Then maybe you should buy a Carbon iPod from ColorWare.

*gasp* i want one!... too bad I already have an ipod... hmm... spray paint sounds good right now...







(jk ipod is too cool to spray paint)

 

[mrsebastian]

Originally posted by QCassidy352
...So why would HP have gone along with this if all they got was an iTMS license? That really does them no good, by itself...

they of course make profit from the hpod, but i'm sure they'll use it for all kinds of marketing and to generate more interest in the hardware.

 

[D0ct0rteeth]

Originally posted by ITR 81
I could see the iPaq dropping it's current OS and picking up a OSX mini OS.

We have been slacking.. its been over 24 hours now and nobody has mentioned an iPaq = iWalk rebrand as a trade in return.

Slackers.

 

[Mr.Hey]

Originally posted by mrsebastian
they of course make profit from the hpod, but i'm sure they'll use it for all kinds of marketing and to generate more interest in the hardware.

Just look at all the media and user attention they've gotten so far. I've personally checked out their site for their 30" LCD TV.
I would never buy gateway *yuck* and if I had to buy anything PC I'll pick HP; I've always liked them.

 

[jero]

looks better than the mini ipod.

 

[jwoodget]

WMA vs AAC

I think some people can't see the wood for the trees. Apple is after bigger fish than a few million iPod sales. They want AAC/Fairplay to be THE standard for music distribution. I doubt we'll see WMA decoding on the iPod unless its in a death-throw.

Selling more iPods would be a short term benefit of licensing WMA but Apple then cedes the high-ground. iTMS is the portal and ipod is the player. As we've seen with the reverse engineering of Real 10, its very difficult to control the market unless you restrict some component of it. The iPod is all that's left to control and it will be guarded.

The codec is the keystone for the digital media business. Apple is looking at the long term (as is Microsoft).

 

[Rower_CPU]

Re: WMA vs AAC

Originally posted by jwoodget
I think some people can't see the wood for the trees. Apple is after bigger fish than a few million iPod sales. They want AAC/Fairplay to be THE standard for music distribution. I doubt we'll see WMA decoding on the iPod unless its in a death-throw.

Selling more iPods would be a short term benefit of licensing WMA but Apple then cedes the high-ground. iTMS is the portal and ipod is the player. As we've seen with the reverse engineering of Real 10, its very difficult to control the market unless you restrict some component of it. The iPod is all that's left to control and it will be guarded.

The codec is the keystone for the digital media business. Apple is looking at the long term (as is Microsoft).

Exactly.

Supporting WMA on the iPod would undermine Apple's stake in AAC+Fairplay. iTunes for Windows opens the AAC door to Windows users, so there's no excuse that WMA is holding people back from using a superior codec.

 

[kangaroo]

smart move

A half a loaf is better than no loaf. As Ms. Fiorina pointed out, Apple can't match HP's scale and distribution network. What's more, IMO, a significant % of people in the PC camp [close and lock the the door] on Apple because they think (right or wrong) 'proprietary' or 'not compatible'. By having HP put its arms around the iPod (and by extension--Apple) that door is instantly unlocked and opens up both a new mindset and new buying opportunities.

For those of you who are (apparently) going to lose sleep over the blue color, get a grip--overtime they'll probably offer additional colors and/or match Apple's colors.

 

[Snowy_River]

Re: WMA on iPod

Originally posted by PDubNYC
"...support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format..."

This sure does seem to indicate a bias, doesn't it? Most reviews I've read place M4A (aka AAC) as the highest quality, mainstream audio compression format. (The only one that I've read being placed on a nearly equal or superior footing with it is Ogg Vorbis, but that one really isn't very mainstream.) Certainly, of the formats that provide DRM, everything I've read has pointed to M4P (aka protected AAC) as being better than WMA.

So, as someone else said, there goes this guy's credibility...

 

[ccuilla]

Re: WMA on iPod

Originally posted by PDubNYC
as I tried to submit, Thurrott is reporting on winnetmag.com the following:

"Exclusive: HP Working to Get WMA on iPod
__ HP's blockbuster deal with Apple will have one exciting side effect, I discovered today. The company will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year. You heard it here first."
http://winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/41423/41423.html

That could open up the audience for the iPod significantly, in my opinion

This is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Apple is trying (hard) to kill off WMA. Supporting it right now would be suicide. Dumb. Dumb move. Won't happen.

Remember, this is a format war too.

 

[mrsebastian]

Re: smart move

Originally posted by kangaroo
A half a loaf is better than no loaf. As Ms. Fiorina pointed out, Apple can't match HP's scale and distribution network. What's more, IMO, a significant % of people in the PC camp [close and lock the the door] on Apple because they think (right or wrong) 'proprietary' or 'not compatible'. By having HP put its arms around the iPod (and by extension--Apple) that door is instantly unlocked and opens up both a new mindset and new buying opportunities.

For those of you who are (apparently) going to lose sleep over the blue color, get a grip--overtime they'll probably offer additional colors and/or match Apple's colors.

i completely agree this is a brilliant move! look at the vhs/beta battle back in the day. it's not about who's better, but the more you get it out there, the more it becomes the standard.

as far as the blue, i don't like it from the picture. then again i don't really care as i have my ipod anyway

 

[Snowy_River]

Originally posted by Sayhey
I hope Carly is not just blowing smoke and it was Apple that brought this to HP. It would mean that Apple is aggressively looking for partners to adopt their technology instead of just hoping the consumers stay with them. The more PC vendors that put iTunes and iTMS on their desktops the better. The more companies that adopt AAC instead of WMA the better still. And the move of companies like HP to market Apple products which will bring more financial resources to Apple's continued R&D is the best hope for the future in all of this.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the actual course of events was something like this:

Apple: Say, HP, can we strike a deal so that you'll pre-install iTunes on all of your computers?

HP: Hmm. That sounds interesting, but let's sweeten the pot a little. We want an HP branded music player, and we know you've got the best one in the business. How about you create an HP version of the iPod, and we'll bundle iTunes on all of our computers?

Apple: Well, that seems like a good deal. Let's do it!

 

[Powerbook G5]

Either way, Apple wins if it is in fact Apple who is receiving to profits from these HP branded iPods. Does this mean that HP just gets the mindshare or would they get some of the cash, as well?

 

[sethypoo]

To me, it looks like the front was dyed with cheap fabric dye. The HP logo on the back looks like it was either taped on or somehow engraved.

 

[The Grimace]

iTunes for PocketPC

Originally posted by Timothy
Ms. HP stated that they will begin implementing the iTunes technology across their product line; which made me wonder...

do you think they'll build an iTunes-like app for the iPaq? That would be interesting...

One can hope. I need to use PocketPC in the course of my work, and just got my son a PocketPC PDA for christmas. I also got him a gift certificate to the iTMS as well, but since he can't play AAC on his new PDA, I'm left with either
1) Burning and re-ripping (which is lossy) the music he downloads or
2)Downloading what he bought on iTMS from P2P in MP3 format so he can use WMP

Either way, until we get iTunes for PocketPC, or WMP starts supporting DRM AAC, its a hassle.

(tig)

 

[P Rush]

Phenominal

This is absolutely amazing. The more people buying from apple's music store, the better. This is a very critical time for online music, and Apple needs to own online purchasing. Right now there isn't a lot of profit in selling online music. In 10 years if EVERYONE is buying from ITMS then That means major profits for apple...MAJOR. Also, the more ipods/hp ipods perople have the more Itunes is used so more ACC. This is great. Consider the alternative -->hp makes a player and it is based on wma and makes another online store them selves...its just another competitor for everyone. Now they are helping apple and their selves. Its smart and Im excited for it.