{"id":2228,"date":"2009-09-09T16:46:05","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T00:46:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=2228"},"modified":"2009-09-09T16:46:05","modified_gmt":"2009-09-10T00:46:05","slug":"more-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/09\/more-apple\/","title":{"rendered":"More Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

HYPE<\/span><\/p>\n

Talk to a label, it’s all about set-up.<\/p>\n

But in one fell swoop, Steve Jobs stole the Beatles’ thunder.<\/p>\n

We had this long run-up to on-sale today.\u00c2\u00a0 With the ongoing complaints that you couldn’t even get Beatle product, that it was sold out everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 9\/9\/09 turned out to be a let-down.\u00c2\u00a0 The day the hoi polloi finally got the product and all the air was let out of the balloon.<\/p>\n

Whereas Apple only announced a presentation.\u00c2\u00a0 The rumors were all behind the scenes, fueling the fire.\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine if the Beatles had just announced 9\/9\/09 and didn’t even say what the product was.\u00c2\u00a0 Today everybody would be running to the store, lining up like they do for iPhones when they’re introduced every June, and we’d be following the frenzy online.<\/p>\n

Are they gonna be on iTunes?\u00c2\u00a0 Mono or stereo?\u00c2\u00a0 Imagine all the discussion of what will be announced.\u00c2\u00a0 Is Paul gonna play?<\/p>\n

Instead, Paul and Ringo played a private party, E3, and all the hype was focused on middlemen, the press who had the product long before the consumer could lay his hands on it, frustrating buyers.<\/p>\n

In today’s egalitarian world, shouldn’t the customer be first, or at least tied in terms of access?<\/p>\n

That old first day sales nonsense is so nineties.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the long haul.\u00c2\u00a0 The key is to build enough of a rep that people care about your announcements.\u00c2\u00a0 Via great music and a relationship with your fans.<\/p>\n

As for Palm’s Pixi…\u00c2\u00a0 Someone should be fired for this.\u00c2\u00a0 Did they really think they were going to steal Apple’s thunder?\u00c2\u00a0 They couldn’t wait a week?\u00c2\u00a0 This is like Farrah Fawcett’s death being usurped by Michael Jackson’s.\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t time death, but you can pick a date for a press release.<\/p>\n

MORE, NOT LESS<\/span><\/p>\n

The big story in today’s presentation is the new Nano.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not about music, but video.\u00c2\u00a0 For $149, you can buy a product that not only plays music, but shoots video.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the Flip.<\/p>\n

Do you know what the Flip is?<\/p>\n

An ultra-cheap video camera, that’s ruling the sphere.<\/p>\n

Sony taught us that people want more more more.\u00c2\u00a0 And Microsoft picked up on the same trend.\u00c2\u00a0 Only Steve Jobs realized it was about less, making products that were usable.\u00c2\u00a0 Until Pure Digital’s Flip.<\/p>\n

You shoot video, and the built-in USB plug allows you to connect to the computer with no extra wires and upload to YouTube.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s all the rage.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple has now piggybacked on this rage.\u00c2\u00a0 All for a very low price.\u00c2\u00a0 Arguably, the video camera is a bonus!<\/p>\n

Contrast this with today’s music business.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Who want 360 deals and deliver almost nothing in return.\u00c2\u00a0 What if a label offered something agents and managers did not?\u00c2\u00a0 That inspired acts to sign with a major label.\u00c2\u00a0 The land grab 360 deal is purely about the company, its bottom line, paying the execs what they’re used to at the expense of the artist.\u00c2\u00a0 This is wrongheaded.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re supposed to be in bed with your artist, just like your artist is sleeping with his fans.\u00c2\u00a0 Adversarial relationships are so twentieth century.\u00c2\u00a0 New companies will be bonded to the artist, with open and fair accounting, there will be trust.<\/p>\n

As for consumers…\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to pay for the CD with the ticket so the act can debut high on the SoundScan chart.\u00c2\u00a0 Huh?\u00c2\u00a0 Just make the music free.\u00c2\u00a0 Or give away live takes.\u00c2\u00a0 How about something extra.\u00c2\u00a0 You charge me to buy the ticket, print it, park, even if I don’t have a car, renovate the facility and then overcharge for food, drink and merch.\u00c2\u00a0 This is a business model?\u00c2\u00a0 If I pay a hundred dollars, can’t you give me something?\u00c2\u00a0 Like a car company gives new car owners a blanket?\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve already got my money, make me feel good!<\/p>\n

iTUNES LP<\/span><\/p>\n

I’d trash it, but the labels already know the score.\u00c2\u00a0 This isn’t about getting new people to pay more, it’s about getting those already buying albums online excited to buy more.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s like Lexus introducing self-parking on the LS.\u00c2\u00a0 Cool, but most people don’t need it, and aren’t about to pay for it.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, self-parking may eventually get cheaper and trickle down to the masses.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas we expect what iTunes LP offers to be free on the band’s Website.<\/p>\n

SPOTIFY<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like Apple was late to the game with the iPod and the Nano with video, perfecting what others had pioneered, when are we going to see the Apple streaming service?\u00c2\u00a0 You know it’s coming.\u00c2\u00a0 And you’ve got to believe it’s going to be better than Spotify.<\/p>\n

Then again, AT&T’s 3G is so lousy, songs on demand are hard to deliver.<\/p>\n

But Spotify is caching your tracks, so you can even listen where there’s no wireless access.<\/p>\n

Yes, Spotify’s on the iPhone, and Android too.\u00c2\u00a0 It appears Apple is behind.<\/p>\n

Or does Apple have bigger fish to fry.\u00c2\u00a0 Does it really care that much about music?\u00c2\u00a0 The company can survive quite well without it.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, most of the songs on iPods are side-loaded.\u00c2\u00a0 And the real action is in the App Store, which now has Genius suggestions.<\/p>\n

The record labels keep saying how Steve Jobs screwed them.\u00c2\u00a0 But he was right about pricing.\u00c2\u00a0 Sales are declining now that $1.29 is the price point.\u00c2\u00a0 And maybe he’s tired of the conflict and is looking towards bigger and brighter pastures.\u00c2\u00a0 Amazon was originally about books, now it’s a behemoth.\u00c2\u00a0 iPods were originally about music, now they’re about movies, recording video, getting restaurant suggestions, maps…<\/p>\n

Today’s announcements were more than we expected.\u00c2\u00a0 Every September we get new iPods, but the hand-held players were seen as a mature item.\u00c2\u00a0 Today, we see that unlike the labels, Apple’s going to eagerly enter the future, fight for market share with video game console companies and camcorder manufacturers by providing a better experience for less.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d like to say it’s rocket science, but Apple’s been doing this act for over a decade.\u00c2\u00a0 It all depends on killer products.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t have to be first, but best.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HYPE Talk to a label, it’s all about set-up. But in one fell swoop, Steve Jobs stole the Beatles’ thunder. We had this long run-up to on-sale today.\u00c2\u00a0 With the ongoing complaints that you couldn’t even get Beatle product, that it was sold out everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 9\/9\/09 turned out to be a let-down.\u00c2\u00a0 The day the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-zW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2229,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228\/revisions\/2229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}