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About this siteFor six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul Friday, August 20, 2004RealNetworks Doesn't RockForbes: "When it comes to brand loyalty, users of Apple Computer's Macintosh computers, and more recently the iPod, are infamous for a level of combative partisanship that would do Rush Limbaugh (notably, a Mac user himself) and Al Franken (notably not) proud."Those two people, and the computers they choose, may say more about the Mac market than anything I could summon, but we digress... "Real's tactical mistake was forgetting that Apple's fervent acolytes constitute, for Apple's PR and marketing departments, a fifth column for which other companies would trade a CEO's eye teeth. In seeking to rally consumers under the 'freedom of choice' banner, Real has wandered into Apple's home marketing turf and gotten a black eye for it ... And though it looks a bit silly now, and its methods are at best questionable, Real's argument is essentially correct. Digital music should, like its analog equivalent, be interoperable with as many devices as possible. In time, market demand will require this, and those who fail to see that will find themselves marginalized. But that day isn't here yet. Real may be correct in principle, but that doesn't trump Apple's right to tell Glazer, Real and all Harmony users to go jump in the lake. Jobs is right to zealously defend the iTunes-plus-iPod business model until such time that it makes sense to change it. And if that means locking Harmony users out of the iPod, that's neither wrong, nor anti-competitive nor anti-consumer. It's just business." Sure. And it's just business for Real to try and open up its services to a bigger slice of the market, too, right? And it's just "normal" for users to want to have choice, right? Right. [ Posted at 1:00 PM | Permalink ]
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