Monday, January 12, 2004
FT.com: Apple iPod with HP tie-up
In an unusual move for Apple, they have tied up with HP to market their iPod: HP will get a version of the hardware for themselves (though nothing will reach the hights of cools that the iPod represents) and will bundle iTunes on it's PCs. This is good for HP - it shows it to be a mover and shaker in digital music, and to be not all Microsoft, and good for Apple: they get distribution and marketing.
But, as the paper version of the FT points out today, they are still vunerable to attack from a late-entry Microsoft. As I know only too well, being first into a marketplace is not necessarily the best thing - being second means you can learn from the expensive mistakes of the pioneers.
Lost in all this marketing and dealmaking and speculation is the realisation that techies and general consumers alike do respond to great design, that design can win over functionality, and that getting the two together is the greatest challenge. Online music is hear to stay; making money from it is a new frontier, and one in which design is starting to play the major role.
In an unusual move for Apple, they have tied up with HP to market their iPod: HP will get a version of the hardware for themselves (though nothing will reach the hights of cools that the iPod represents) and will bundle iTunes on it's PCs. This is good for HP - it shows it to be a mover and shaker in digital music, and to be not all Microsoft, and good for Apple: they get distribution and marketing.
But, as the paper version of the FT points out today, they are still vunerable to attack from a late-entry Microsoft. As I know only too well, being first into a marketplace is not necessarily the best thing - being second means you can learn from the expensive mistakes of the pioneers.
Lost in all this marketing and dealmaking and speculation is the realisation that techies and general consumers alike do respond to great design, that design can win over functionality, and that getting the two together is the greatest challenge. Online music is hear to stay; making money from it is a new frontier, and one in which design is starting to play the major role.
(c) 2003-2005 Russell Beale
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