[mattyd]

with all this talk of Apple rejecting partnerships by Real, Rio and others who want to support the iPod and iTunes Music Store, i just don't get why steve is being so stubborn about this.

now, i'll admit he's probably smarter than me (and may have some tricks up his sleeve) but i just don't see how supporting WMA or licensing Fair Play to Real would hurt. it seems like, if anything, it would help sell more iPods by giving users a choice of download stores to shoose from.

i mean Apple's in a great position now. but, they've been market leaders before only to watch their leads evaporate under a cloud of "i told you so's." wouldn't it be better to beat microsoft at their own game by beating them to the punch and forging strong alliances? all the other companies seem to be rooting against microsoft anyway.

i'm worried.

[Mark Tungston]

don't be stupid

worried?

over a mp3 player?

[SupahCoolX]

I can see not supporting WMA, since that will potentially cause other online music stores to compete with iTunes for iPod users. Also, I doubt Apple wants to pay licensing fees to Microsoft when it can use AAC.
That said, I'm more unsure of their decision to turn down real. Both Real and Apple (Quicktime) are having trouble competing with Windows Media these days, and a partnership could help both companies. Also, it would open up the iPod as a possibility for customers who prefer to get their content from Real.
Just my 2 cents...

[mattyd]

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
I can see not supporting WMA, since that will potentially cause other online music stores to compete with iTunes for iPod users.

yeah, but as Apple has said, they don't make money on the iTMS, it exists to sell iPods. it seems that supporting other stores would create a bigger market for iPods. maybe they want to drive the other stores out of business, but even if they do they'll still have to deal with microsoft.

i guess someone, somewhere has "run the numbers" so they might be on track. on the other hand, steve's hard head has gotten Apple in trouble before.

i feel like they've won the game, but they won't get up on stage to accept the prize.

[pliny]

whoever thought mp3 players would be a big deal, eh?

at this rate mp3 players mean about $1 billion a year for apple, that is big.

I think steve'd rather stick a fork in real rather than partner with them, that glaser fella's been spouting crap about apple for years and now he's leaking his emails and practically begging for apple's stuff.

seems like apple is going around real by partnering directly with other computer manufacturers.

[RayX]

Supporting WMA is supporting Microsoft = no.

[Graymalkin]

Right now M4P sales outnumber the entirety of encrypted WMA sales by a huge margin. There's little reason for Apple to support them and put more money in Microsoft's pocket. It would also push people away from the "Mac Experience" that people get a taste of using iTunes. The whole point of offering a glimpse of Mac-ness on the PC is to entice people to pick up a Mac at some point.

Letting Real ride on their coattails would be a stupid move on their part. One reason iTunes on Windows is a very good thing for Apple is it means that many more people downloading Quicktime and keeping it up to date. With Quicktime on more PCs it means content producers will have an impetus to provide Quicktime versions of whatever they're making. By allowing Real to use FairPlay it allows iTMS to exist and be used without iTunes and Quicktime. The second big reason for iTunes on Windows is to give Windows users a taste of Mac-ness in hopes that they'll realize Windows sucks and will pick up a Mac. By letting Real use iTMS it just gives people a reason not to download Quicktime and doesn't expose anyone to key pieces of Mac software.

Also iTunes is not designed not to make money. Up to this point they've managed to break even. This past quarter they had enough sales to turn a small profit. With high enough sales iTMS is profitable and serves to ship more iPods be them in HP Blue or Apple White. The iTMS has improved quite a bit since its introduction last year. It also has a lot of street cred among the computer using masses tech-savvy or not. Whoring it out to people like Real would only serve to drive people away from Apple and towards the competition. By the end of this year I'm pretty sure we'll see at least one of the other download services tank and the others merge in an attempt to beat out Apple.

Real is not long for this world and it wouldn't make any sense for Apple to use their money and mindshare to keep them afloat.

[Thilo Ettelt]

Originally posted by Mark Tungston:
don't be stupid

worried?

over a mp3 player?

I think it's funny when people refer to the iPod as an MP3 player. My iPod has close to zero MP3s on it.

AAC all the way.


- Thilo