"iTunes is music."
So said my eighteen year old son, with intentional exaggeration, after a conversation as to whether or not the newly reported Google phone, nicknamed the gPhone, could be a iPhone killer. As reported, Google is working with a phone manufacturer and service providers in an attempt to enter the handheld and wireless telephone market.
"Don't forget dad, today, iTunes is music. Apple has it and they don't."
A good point by him I thought and maybe check, if not checkmate, by Apple, at least for now. That is, assuming they can keep Google phone users from downloading iTunes loaded music.
So, once again the medium between hardware and software becomes the guiding factor. By that I mean iTunes is the medium, or operating system, between the music and the hardware that plays the music, and that fact is keeping Google, Windows and Nokia at bay.
Genius.
(Jake? Are we right or wrong? Andrew?)
4 comments:
It is a "pure numbers" game sometimes...
With iTunes, Apple had it made when they came up with the "killer" device for playing music, BUT "Oh by the way" you had to use iTunes to manage your music.
But it's not over. Amazon has a very large mp3 store... they sell the music so that *any* (yes, even an iPod) mp3 player will work with it... and it's cheaper. They offer a tool that automatically imports it into your iPod.
The key here, that most people don't realize, is that songs purchased via iTunes must be played only on iPhones or within iTunes on limited number of devices...
Music bought with Amazon mp3, though managed in iTunes, can be played on any device...
Once people bridge the gap and understand that they should buy from Amazon, because it supports their current iPod but also future proofs their music... they will move.
Which brings me to my point, you guys are exactly right... it's about iTunes being in the middle.
Another huge music scene is evolving around Pandora and last.fm... which are music statistics and suggestion sites. You listen to music, it watches what you listen to, learns your tastes, and suggests new music... all for free...
I like the Pandora and last.fm concepts. I did not know Amazon sold mp3 files.
Now that would be a combination worth watching, the Google phone with all their apps built in, plus a connection with Amazon.
Google does have one big ace in the hole: an big supply of cash on hand.
I look to see them compete with the Apple apps before Microsoft or anyone else.
Great comments, thanks.
I agree with you totally. Itunes are the new CD's. Unless someone can come up with an easier and more streamlined system that is also significantly cheaper, itunes will continue to reign.
Apple has a long history of breeding golden-egg-laying geese then killing them, or, at best, penning them up. The Mac was/is a far superior computer and I should be typing on a clone of one right now. But nope...
Sounds like they are up to their old tricks with the iphone and itunes.
Post a Comment