Conventional wisdom is Apple will fail, that they’ll make inroads into a sphere, even CREATE said sphere, but then will be eclipsed by the lumbering Microsoft, since Microsoft PARTNERS with other manufacturers and there’s greater innovation and you end up with more products at commodity prices.<\/p>\n
Bullshit.<\/p>\n
It’s about usability.\u00c2\u00a0 Plain and simple.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what Apple has demonstrated again and again.\u00c2\u00a0 The iPod is so successful because it’s a seamless process to both load it and play music\/videos on it.\u00c2\u00a0 Seems that Microsoft is double-talking here.\u00c2\u00a0 Since they essentially abandoned their Plays For Sure partners and went it alone, with the Zune.\u00c2\u00a0 The only problem is they were three steps behind and were playing by the rules.<\/p>\n
You can’t play by the rules, Cingular knows this.\u00c2\u00a0 While Verizon and Sprint are trying to build a business selling overpriced, copy-protected musical tracks, Cingular essentially just abandoned that game, to go into business with the hottest consumer electronics company in the world, not Sony, run by a bureaucrat, but Apple Inc., run by a technologist.<\/p>\n
And Steve Jobs didn’t give a shit that you’re supposed to SUBSIDIZE handset sales.\u00c2\u00a0 Be beholden to the provider, giving him what he wants, often crippled, just to meet your numbers.\u00c2\u00a0 In an era where cell phones are oftentimes FREE, Apple is going to charge five hundred bucks.\u00c2\u00a0 And probably sell each and every one it makes.<\/p>\n
Cingular knows it’s in a dogfight.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s got an inferior high speed network and a bad rep re service, both connections and help.\u00c2\u00a0 By throwing in with Apple, the wireless company burnishes its image in the short term, and gains valuable time in its race to catch up with the EV-DO boys.<\/p>\n
Apple knows that iPod sales are dwarfed by the sales of mobile handsets.\u00c2\u00a0 That it’s not a matter of IF the iPod will be killed by the phone, but WHEN!\u00c2\u00a0 So, not only has Apple moved now, unlike Microsoft, they’ve gone BEYOND what people expected, delivering a product most people don’t think they yet have a need for, mobile e-mail, in a totally usable package.\u00c2\u00a0 Protecting their innovation via patents.<\/p>\n
And the public is GA-GA!\u00c2\u00a0 This is the story of the YEAR!\u00c2\u00a0 This ain’t no RAZR, this ain’t no fashion statement, this is raw FUNCTIONALITY!<\/p>\n
But what is truly fascinating is that Apple is not doing it alone.\u00c2\u00a0 Not only have they partnered with Cingular, but Google and Yahoo too.\u00c2\u00a0 God, WHO ELSE could bring together these two competitors?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s MICROSOFT that is left out in the cold!<\/p>\n
That’s the new tech.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t go it alone in innovation.\u00c2\u00a0 You PARTNER!\u00c2\u00a0 Microsoft doesn’t partner, they DICTATE!\u00c2\u00a0 And fuck you in the ass when you’re not watching\/least expect it.<\/p>\n
There are many lessons in this for the music business.<\/p>\n
1. Forget today’s rules.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to play for tomorrow, to SURVIVE tomorrow.<\/p>\n
2. You can’t give people LESS than what they want, you’ve got to give them MORE!<\/p>\n
3. You can’t tell people to hold back, you’ve got to lead them.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t sell crippled files, get rid of the DRM and purvey tracks for a much cheaper price, promising HIGHER QUALITY in the future and announcing a partnership with Apple to PROVIDE THIS!<\/p>\n
4. Don’t ask your customers to COME BACK, ask them to COME WITH!!<\/p>\n
5. Position yourself at the pass, in the future, corral the people into coming to YOU, don’t ask those who’ve left to retreat to where you are just because you were the king before.<\/p>\n
This is an historic day.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the excitement, hell, it’s like when the BEATLES put out a new album.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the iPhone itself.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of the spirit of COLLABORATION amongst partners.<\/p>\n
But the real reason today is such a joy, why it puts a smile on everybody’s face, is because Apple dared to dream.\u00c2\u00a0 And not only dream, but dream the ultimate and get it right.\u00c2\u00a0 Like the Beatles, like Pink Floyd, like Led Zeppelin and all the other legendary acts we hold so near and dear to our hearts.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the spirit, that’s what we believe in, it’s great to believe AGAIN!<\/p>\n
Now let’s all just hope that this product actually ships in June, that it truly works, and that Cingular IMPROVES ITS SERVICE!!<\/p>\n
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Conventional wisdom is Apple will fail, that they’ll make inroads into a sphere, even CREATE said sphere, but then will be eclipsed by the lumbering Microsoft, since Microsoft PARTNERS with other manufacturers and there’s greater innovation and you end up with more products at commodity prices. Bullshit. It’s about usability.\u00c2\u00a0 Plain and simple.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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":[4,2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple","category-music-business","category-technology"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-iphone","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}