what Apple should be doing?

[iPC]

As always, we claim that Apple is the "innovator" of the industry, yet we end up seeing cool new products being released in Japan all the time...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/11/sony_vaio_pocket/

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/05/10/sony_micro_pc/

What is up with Apple? Is there anything new on the horizon? A smaller iPod is not really a "new" device, IMHO.

 

[jxyama]

hate to be argumentative, but the japanese market often has very different sense of value and "coolness" when it comes to tech gadgets. (or just about any gadgets, actually...) often, very, very expensive gadgets sell ok in japan just because they appeal very strongly to the japanese - the same product released in the u.s. would bite the dust in no time just because of the price. americans are far more price conscious than the japanese.

since apple is an american company, what it develops must cater first and foremost to the u.s. market.

sony is, obviously, a very well respected brand in japan and can push products that are a bit on the edge - sort of like the way apple is in the u.s.

 

[iPC]

Apple "pushing" compared to others is rather weak... that is all I was trying to say.

 

[jxyama]

Apple "pushing" compared to others is rather weak... that is all I was trying to say.

i'm not sure if it's in apple's best interest to try to "match" all the products coming out, nor do i think apple's not "innovative" if it doesn't. however, i agree that apple's been a bit stagnant, at least on the hardware side. iTMS doesn't "really count" as an innovation in minds of many just because it's a software based innovation - it just ain't the same as devices you can hold in your hands...

anyway, two examples you listed are certainly cool looking, but i'm not sure if they are really innovative.

iPod really was innovative - it was the first HD based mp3 player with large capacity AND usable interface to navigate through those contents.

sony really should have come up with something like the iPod... but having the record division really hampered their r&d effort in portable music players... they had to make sure their musical IP would be protected, and something like an iPod would be a hard concept to realize if you were constantly worried about digital piracy.