[dcmacdaddy]

Check out this article from today's Washington Post.
Maybe Apple is planning to start their own all-encompassing content provision service?


With 'Vingle,' Apple Looks to Branch Way Out
By Frank Ahrens
Sunday, October 16, 2005; F07


What is Steve Jobs going to pull out of the sleeve of that black turtleneck next?

Domination of the Web, if you believe the trademarks Apple Computer Inc. filed at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office on Oct. 7.

In three filings, Apple -- which made headlines last week by rolling out the next generation of iPod, one that can play video (what a beauty business plan: keep selling the same thing, over and over) -- asked for a trademark on something it calls "Vingle."

According to the filings, Vingle is, well, let's just give you the company's language, because it's pretty sprawling in its scope.

Vingle will or could comprise: "Telecommunication services, namely, electronic transmission of streamed and downloadable audio and video files via computer and other communications networks; providing on-line chat rooms, bulletin boards and community forums for the transmission of messages among computer users concerning entertainment, music, concerts, videos, radio, television, film, news, sports, games and cultural events; web casting services; delivery of messages by electronic transmission; provision of connectivity services and access to electronic communications networks, for transmission or reception of audio, video or multimedia content . . . " and so on, including search engines and a global network.

But, wait: There's more!

Two other filings say Vingle could include not only hardware (new computers and peripherals) but also a chain of retail stores. The filings first were reported by AppleInsider, a Web site not affiliated with the company.

There are a few ways to think about this:

A) Jobs has created an alter-ego along the lines of a one-name James Bond villain. (Blofeld, Goldfinger, Drax.) "Vingle" will enable Jobs to attempt world domination by actually inhabiting the Web, transforming his physical body into a collection of 1's and 0's. (Anyone remember V'ger?)

B) Something less sinister but just as expansive: an uber-portal that combines the search functions of Google and the content scope of AOL's "walled garden," the television networks and the music labels.

Or,

C) "Vingle" is a placeholder. Apple may never try any of the things it lists in its filings but reserves the right to do so under the Vingle name. Speculation is that the name is a contraction of "video" and "single," which would coincide with the new video iPod. The filings have an "everything we can think of" feel to them, along the lines of Hollywood contracts that ensure studio rights for distributing movies here or anywhere in the known universe. (True.)

Apple successfully has used 99-cent songs as loss-leaders to sell iPods. Apple won't make much on the episodes of "Lost" it sells, but it will make plenty on the new $399 video iPod that plays them.

Perhaps the next logical step is the Web. The Web is all about community, say those who make a living on it, and Apple has used its attractive gadgets to swell the feverish Cult of Mac from a few computer-owners (about 5 percent of the PC market) to millions of iPodsters, and every one of them is on the Web.

If Jobs can monetize that, we may be well be on our way to iEarth.


© 2005 The Washington Post Company

[Kerrigan]

Sounds like AOL. :-(

I imagine that this patented idea will never see the light of day, just like all those patents that apple has on tablet PCs and mice with iPod clickwheels.

[analogika]

They're on the way to becoming your one-stop entertainment company.

Content vendor, playback equipment for at home and out mobile, wireless transmission of content to everywhere in the house - and, of course, content CREATION, both pro and amateur/hobbyist.

Content on demand, anywhere, and empowering users to create their own.

Basically, that's all computers are all about, outside of corporate networks.

Apple is on the way to owning the market they created with the very first Macintosh in 1984.

It's good to see them back on track.

[TETENAL]

See what's coming:

http://www.apple.com/teaser/

[Ratm]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

See what's coming:

http://www.apple.com/teaser/

wtf? how.. where.... that's old! and apple still has it up?

[production_coordinator]

I think Apple would be a fool NOT to try for more. Music first, shows second... movies are obviously next.

I'm also just waiting for the Apple network box that will connect directly to my TV.

[Salty]

I think TV shows are partially just an excuse to put out a video iPod. Apple has to have something to put on it. I expect they expect to see lots of movies on p2p services formatted for the iPod and then can say the the movie industry hey look people want this so move with us.

[ReggieX]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

See what's coming:
http://www.apple.com/teaser/

I was going to say something along the lines of "Wow, I can't believe that's still up!" but they don't exactly keep good track of their site's inventory. After the big announcement last week, they still had ads for iTunes 5 and smaller iPods all over the place.

[Hawkeye_a]

Apple's strategy is to incrementally increase the "value" of the iPod. i noticed it when they rolled out the iPod photo. at first i was kinda disappointed cause i wanted an 'all music' device. but then again it is called 'iPod' not 'iWannabeawalkman'.

iPod is the digital hub, the computer onloy allows you to alter the information. All your music, movies and photos in one place.

Why only TV shows ? screen size and battery life. once those get upto par where you can watch a widescreen full feature movie on a single charge, voila. And im sure apple's operations unit is negioating with the studios right now.

So why TV shows and music videos ? mere stepping stones. we didnt jump from command prompt to OSX or from 2-bit games to the revolution. cost effectiveness is vital for market acceptance. (as the PSPs dismal performance has proved...mostly due to the price of accesories and "software"(games and movies)). Once apple gets the go ahead for $9.99 movie downloads, and gets the iPod battery life upto 4-5 hours worth of continuous video playback...the widescceen will follow.

As for now, theyre kinda dipping their toe in the market...most ppl who commute to work on the subway, etc...dont have time to watch a whole movie, but maybe a TV show they missed ? makes more sence to consumers in my opinion.

But yeah a complete media library store available for download is what i expect in the next3-5 years from Apple. No wonder theyre such good pals with Sony (which owns a vasy majority of American movies (since it baught out MGM, etc)). having access to that will be vital to the success of the moviePod......how the PSP vs iPod battle fits into this is kinda unnerving. But if Apple proves a viable revenue stream for content, Sony will have to come on board.

Just my ramblings though.

Cheers

[ReggieX]

Widescreen on a tiny 4:3 screen's a bit of a waste, don't you think?

Green outline is 4:3, orange is 16:9, and blue is 2.35:1 aka Scope:



Tiny, tiny, tiny.

[production_coordinator]

I'm a little amazed at the low resolutions of the videos. Wasn't a big selling point of H.264 that it was scalable. I don't think that the show downloads had to be full TV quality, but they seem low end IMHO.

[TETENAL]

It's the largest size H.264 that the iPod can play.

[Salty]

Apple Pals with Sony? Sony is one of if not the biggest reason Apple hasn't announced the iTMS in more countries and specifically the reason why the Japan one was released late. Trust me Apple and Sony play nice on the hardware front sometimes, but when it comes to content Sony is envious of Apple and they're one of the few companies that is as badly run as Microsoft.

[- - e r i k - -]

Holy crap! Salty said something that actually makes sense and I agree with!

[xenu]

Sounds like they may be adding .mac and iSight integration to Front Row.

[JoshuaZ]

Originally Posted by Salty

Apple Pals with Sony? Sony is one of if not the biggest reason Apple hasn't announced the iTMS in more countries and specifically the reason why the Japan one was released late. Trust me Apple and Sony play nice on the hardware front sometimes, but when it comes to content Sony is envious of Apple and they're one of the few companies that is as badly run as Microsoft.

Yeah a lot of people here in japan were waiting for the iTunes music store. but also Japan is a country where you can rent a CD for like $1 overnight. Kind of hard to sell online music content when the CD rental business is booming.

[Super Mario]

Video + mingling = Vingling

In the future we will be vingling together! I know many people do something like this that they call by another name normally done in the nude but we're talking something new now. Dotmac members will be vingling together in multiple video windows that looks like iPhoto and iChat mixed. You click on a video thumbnail and it grows big. Expose for video forums whatta cool idea brothers and sisters! Video conference on iPod maybe over wireless? WOWEE! It's like video callphones but better. Vingle in Apple stores. Vingle at home. Vingle in the street. Vingle to the beat in nightclubs. I like it. Any sexy women want to vingle? So you're in a nightclub and you meet some sexy bird and you become her vingling partner a-hem.