Steve Jobs on iTunes Phone and Carriers

[1rottenapple]

I agree ring tones are too expensive but a song is not a ringtone. Just saying that people should buy songs from itunes and bluetooth it to their phones shows a lack of understanding of ringtones. A ringtone is a snippet of a song and for a good reason. Why would you want to store an entire song as a ringtone?. Will you listen to the entire song before answering the phone?. Even if phone memory increases, why would you dedicate so much storage to an entire song as a ringtone when you can better use that storage to store your pictures, voice memos, etc?.
Also some phones require the ringtone to be in specific format. I gurantee whatever music you purchase from itunes is not in this format.

I suppose you can always buy/acquire an application that would take a song and convert a snippet of it to a ringtone.. but not everyone is computer savy.


Last week, i helped a woman buy a computer to run an application she wanted to run.. very old application. She called me up and complained that she could not find any computer that ran the app. When i asked why?.. she was like
"the application says i need windows 98, 64 mb of RAM, etc etc".. then she said "all the computers i looked at said Windows XP, 512MB of ram"..
It took a monumental effort not to burst out laughing but she thought because the computer specs did not exactly match the minimum requirements of the app, that the computer could not run the app. Now, are you asking this same person to bluetooth a song to her phone?. Heck, i've never done it myself (although i could if i wanted to.. i'm sure it's not that difficult for a person of my technical ability to figure out.. besides, there are many websites with free ringtones.. i hook my phone to my computer and download that way)
I digress but you are asking a significant portion of the population that is not tech savy to do something that requires tech savy.


BTW Jobs, I guess people are really stupid. They have been buying ringtones for a long time. Instead of calling potential customers stupid, why don't you get of your arse and provide an easy way for them to get ringtones for 99c?
I'm talking about the folks that will not want an itunes phone. How about all the other folks with regular phones.. some that are not bluetooth enabled?.

I don't know about that. Buying a 30 sec song for 3 dollars is stupid. Bottomline, you can be diplomatic about the whole situation all you want but 3 dollars for a damn ringtone is an absolute ripoff, and anyone who does so deserves a smack upside the head.

 

[Applespider]

Just saying that people should buy songs from itunes and bluetooth it to their phones shows a lack of understanding of ringtones. A ringtone is a snippet of a song and for a good reason. Why would you want to store an entire song as a ringtone?. Will you listen to the entire song before answering the phone?

Most people don't listen to their full ringtones either. They answer it as soon as they can so that other people in the room/carriage/office stop staring and frowning at them. I used to trim down the music I use as ringtones to 30 seconds or so and downgrade the sound quality - but I tend to only use a couple of songs as ringtones and since I have enough MB of built-in storage, it's quicker to just transfer the whole song unless it's got an incredibly long, quiet intro. I tend to keep it on silent/vibrate most of the time these days.

All I'm saying is that if phone companies can convince people to pay £3 for a short ringtone, why shouldn't they think that the same people would spend the same for a full song however ridiculous we might think it is.

 

[DTphonehome]

Putting video playback on an iPod, in my opinion, would be just utterly useless. Who would WANT to actually try to watch a full motion picture on an 2 in. low-resolution iPod screen. My God your eyes couldn't take it for very long.

I think the real drive behind people wanting iPod's with video is that it would bring us one step closer to an Apple PDA. I'm not saying that the iPod is or should be a PDA, but when is enough actually enough. The current line of iPods are damn fine little machines with buttloads of neat features.

Although, if Apple was going to provide video playback then I think that it would somehow tie-in to the Music Store. Like being able to play music videos back on the iPod. I think that would work, since music videos are relatively short and you don't necessarily have to pay much attention to know what is going on.

You really think they'll keep the same screen/resolution? They'd for sure up the resolution and size.

 

[michaelrjohnson]

You really think they'll keep the same screen/resolution? They'd for sure up the resolution and size.

And lose the iPod's legendary form factor? That's asking a bit much.

For the next 1-2 years, dont' expect to see anything other than a dock connector iPod with a 2in screen. Apple found a winning formula, and they're not about to risk it all on an extremely niche market (i.e. PSP). Plus, for the sake of the iPod accessory market, the form factor will remain the same so the iPod continues to have accessories. If Apple up and changed it, (like they did 2G->3G) there will be a lull when *no* accessories are available for the new iPod... and that's not very appealing to a consumer.

 

[miketcool]

I love how Jobs just continues to keep us all wrapped around his finger with the simple comments used to avoid actually answering someone's questions.
The market is definatley going mobile, and with Apple being the UI gurus, I fully expect to see a mobile comminication device branded with the infamous piece of fruit. After all, mobile seems to be the big payout for apple nowadays, and with Intel partnering, they should push things into a new era.

 

[benpatient]

Well, it's going to be a lousy buying experience, and the music is going to cost two to three times as much as if you buy it on your computer. It's hard to imagine that customers are that stupid.

wow, Steve Jobs...you haven't seen how stupid cell phone customers can be, have you?

People pay 3 dollars for a friggin' ring tone or a "wallpaper" for their cell phone. 3 dollars for a 150x200 pixel static GIF image?

people are plenty stupid enough to pay 3 dollars to have a song on their phone.

 

[Whyren]

Maybe we'll do some over the air stuff later, but we don't think that that's going to be where the action is.

So...based on past experience with Steve (such as the flash-based Shuffle), this means they are planning on moving in that direction.

 

[Loge]

To everyone advocating simply bluetoothing files over...

Verizon (and possibly other carriers, I don't know) cripples bluetooth on all their phones so that you can't transfer files over. They make you message your pics, for a fee of course. The carriers WILL block anything that doesn't fit into their business model or competes with their revenue stream.

Fortunately most UK phones are not like this. I'm surprised US consumers tolerate it. Isn't it possible to get such anti-competitive practices investigated?

 

[oskar]

Finally, what we were waiting to hear. Words that actually come from Steve. I think we as mac users are expecting something way too breakthrough in the coming weeks/months, when actually we already got our cool product of the year which is actually the mac mini. The next big news from Apple is probably an x86 Mac, and that's probably until January '06 at the least. Just supposing here.
Steve Jobs snaps mac dreamers' feet back to the ground and makes us realize that Apple can do a lot stuff, but everything isn't as easy as we believe it is, at least not in every aspect of making and selling a product. Of course they can make a video ipod, an "ihome" mac-mini-like home theather and many other stuff that we imagine would make our life easier or cooler, but Jobs is always thinking if the products will actually sell. That's what really matters for the company after all: people's positive response to their products and nothing like high sales says better.
So Jobs practically said that there would be no iPhone in the near future. I wonder what we could be seeing the remaining five months of the year then?

 

[capvideo]

What about iChat? Could Apple do an end-run around the cell industry by using satellite or some other Internet wireless access technology to make a portable iChat device that supports VoIP?

Jerry

 

[ham_man]

If the interface was real simple, IE install a bit of software, connect your phone to your computer via Bluetooth, it opens iTunes and you can just drag and drop, I see some potential. Download songs over the wireless network? I don't think so - way too costly and too hard to execute....

 

[Muzukun]

ahhh, I love how he can be so frank about some things...

However as for people paying 2-3 dollars, I can see people doing that, the extremely wealthy (who don't know what to do with their money) and those stupid kids out there who forget the charges for txt msging and end up raking up cellphone bills that are 2, 3 hundred dollars just from that alone. I mean hell, sprint already charges you about 2 dollars for some ringtones as it is, for the most part it wouldn't be that much of a change when you think about it. Overall thought I doubt it (paying 2-3 dollars for songs) wont work, first month a few people might do it for a kick or two, or get that song they just HAVE to hear right then and there, but after the thrill, I think people will get tired of it.

 

[Xgreed]

I think Apple would be more likely to produce a mobile device with music, video, photo browsing capability, a camera, web browser, email, address book, and calendar. Perhaps with a touchscreen, or handwriting recognition. Not a new Newton, but an evolution of the iPod. It would of course iSync flawlessly - or perhaps it would even regularly sync up with .Mac, so you wouldn't have to connect it with your PC unless you wanted to transfer music or video. Most likely it would have Bluetooth and talk to your existing cellphone to go online; perhaps it would have Airport as well to hook-up at hotspots.

Sounds to me like the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet: http://www.nokiausa.com/770.

This also uses an existing CellPhone (via bluetooth) to make the connectivity, or WiFi - if available.

Apple could improve on the Nokia by using Mac OS X instead of Linux and by throwing in a hard-drive which is lacking from the Nokia for unknown reasons to me.

Such a device would at least allow me to show around pictures on family events without having to print them out or force the people to gather in front of a low-res TV set.

 

[csubear]

I suppose you can always buy/acquire an application that would take a song and convert a snippet of it to a ringtone.. but not everyone is computer savy.

GarageBand my friend, garageband. It very easy, even my tecno-phob while can drag a track into garageband and edit out a section she wants for her ringtone. The only thing she need assistance with was getting the garageband aiff to a wav. Bluetooth on a mac in insanely easy.

Now grant it i have no idea how I would even start with this on windows.

 

[jicon]

...and the music is going to cost two to three times as much as if you buy it on your computer. It's hard to imagine that customers are that stupid.

Maybe this signals a change in Apple's pricing philosophy?? Last I checked, a dual 2.7 Ghz PowerMac, with $90 worth of memory, the equivalent of a $2-300 video card, and a $200 industry standard SATA Hard Drive still sells for $4332 CDN after tax.

We're apparently already 'gullible' enough to pay a heavy premium for Apple hardware.

It makes me wonder what he truly thinks of the average Apple user.

I'd advise Jobs not to throw stones in a glass house.

 

[sishaw]

Steve on iTunes phone

I opened this thread out of curiosity. Using a phone as a music device, iTunes or not, is not that great an experience. I can play music on my Treo, with a 512 memory card, so it's the same capacity as my Shuffle. Do I? After a few days of fiddling with the fussy interface and the goofy headphone dongle (cell phone out jacks are a different size than standard stereo headphone jacks), I just naturally went back to the elegant simplicity of the iPod. I think people are just making way too big a deal out of this embryonic iTunes phone.

And, as for comments about iPods eventually becoming cell phones, I'm not sure why you'd want to muck up something as perfect for its purpose as the iPod with cell phone functions. I'm not discounting the possibility that Apple can come up with an elegant and simple interface for a "convergence device," but, guess what, it won't be an iPod or a cell phone as we know them today.

 

[michaelb]

Remember, there are people around the world happy to pay £3 for a 30 second ringtone! Why they don't just buy the single on iTMS and Bluetooth it to their phone I've neer quite worked out.

Ringtones are a bit different: they're soundbites that represent someone's personality: the phone rings with their chosen tune, everybody around them hears it.

I suppose in a way it's like clothing or a woman's makeup - the look they present to the world.

Just a thought.

 

[pubwvj]

Well, it's going to be a lousy buying experience, and the music is going to cost two to three times as much as if you buy it on your computer. It's hard to imagine that customers are that stupid.

I agree. I would much rather download songs quickly over my DSL connection directly into iTunes where I can then manage them between computer, MP3 player (phone?) and other family computers.

Downloading them to the phone would be slower, cost more and just add extra work to the whole process.

Steve's thinking ahead. As usual.

 

[pubwvj]

Ringtones are a bit different: they're soundbites that represent someone's personality: the phone rings with their chosen tune, everybody around them hears it.

Yes. Completely annoying.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I think Apple would be more likely to produce a mobile device with music, video, photo browsing capability, a camera, web browser, email, address book, and calendar. Perhaps with a touchscreen, or handwriting recognition. Not a new Newton, but an evolution of the iPod. It would of course iSync flawlessly - or perhaps it would even regularly sync up with .Mac, so you wouldn't have to connect it with your PC unless you wanted to transfer music or video. Most likely it would have Bluetooth and talk to your existing cellphone to go online; perhaps it would have Airport as well to hook-up at hotspots.

What you're describing sounds very similar to a smart phone...

 

[FunkSpaceMonkey]

the current cell phone market and Apple's positioning.

What the heck does that mean? Apples positioning? Market speak, kind of like Orwelian "Newspeak" ..

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

So This is Nothing After All...

I mean, I can load mp3's onto my phone and play them with the mp3 player it comes with. And I can put a huge flash card in it if I want. So, what does the Mot. phone have that's different - FairPlay?

PlayFair takes care. Non-event. This wasn't worth a year of hype. Next.

 

[jayscheuerle]

A little bit of double sided tape gives me an iPod phone.

Having a shuffle AND a small phone is not really much in your pocket. You have music you can download from your computer, a flash-rom drive, decent battery life and no restrictions from the phone companies.

Don't some phones have switchable face plates? Incorporate a form-fitting sleeve for a shuffle and you have a 1 piece unit.

Paying $3 for a song is for idiots.

 

[iWillard]

Overall thought I doubt it (paying 2-3 dollars for songs) wont work, first month a few people might do it for a kick or two, or get that song they just HAVE to hear right then and there, but after the thrill, I think people will get tired of it.

Wholeheartedly agree... With my first cell phone, I downloaded a ringtone for $1.99... (it *was* pretty cool having the opening riff of "Limelight" as a ringtone).... But now with my new one, I just don't care... Plus the software you have to use on the phone to do it is horribly slow and horrible...

 

[pubwvj]

Wholeheartedly agree... With my first cell phone, I downloaded a ringtone for $1.99... (it *was* pretty cool having the opening riff of "Limelight" as a ringtone).... But now with my new one, I just don't care... Plus the software you have to use on the phone to do it is horribly slow and horrible...

It is almost like the phone companies miss the point. The purpose of the phone is to be able to communicate. The ring tone is a real side issue. I think it became a fad and will fade.