reddred wrote:
"Garrett Cox" wrote in message
iPod isn't a money maker neither is the iTunes music store. It's kind
of a whack marketing chain. At least this is how my Apple sales rep
explained it to me. The iTunes music store helps sell iPods which in
turn helps sell Macintoshes.

Well, that's the theory, but most of Apple's significant wad of ready cash
came from iPods this year, not macs. And only a very tiny bit came from
iTunes.

So what's the next rabbit from the hat?

A follow-on to the Newton.
Apple is really good at pulling disconnected rabbits out of hats, and they
have been doing so since they started. Aside from a couple mistakes, like
the Apple III and the Mac Portable, they've done surprisingly well at it.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
reddred wrote:
"Garrett Cox" wrote in message
iPod isn't a money maker neither is the iTunes music store. It's kind
of a whack marketing chain. At least this is how my Apple sales rep
explained it to me. The iTunes music store helps sell iPods which in
turn helps sell Macintoshes.

Well, that's the theory, but most of Apple's significant wad of ready
cash
came from iPods this year, not macs. And only a very tiny bit came from
iTunes.

So what's the next rabbit from the hat?

A follow-on to the Newton.

That's like what I was thinking, or in the short term partner with Sirius to
compete with XM's portable players. But yeah, I don't see any reason not to
have a pc inside an iPod.


Apple is really good at pulling disconnected rabbits out of hats, and they
have been doing so since they started. Aside from a couple mistakes, like
the Apple III

I don't think they supported that much. Things like the Newton were just too
weird at the time for people to embrace. I kind of like what they're doing
now, coming at it from the entertainment gadget angle.

jb

reddred wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message

Apple is really good at pulling disconnected rabbits out of hats, and they
have been doing so since they started. Aside from a couple mistakes, like
the Apple III

I don't think they supported that much. Things like the Newton were just too
weird at the time for people to embrace. I kind of like what they're doing
now, coming at it from the entertainment gadget angle.

They didn't support the III at all, as far as I could tell, which is why
nobody bought it. It could do everything the Apple II could do, for a
whole lot more money. That's not a good marketing plan.

Apple does not seem to really do careful investigation of the market before
making products; they make products that are neat and some of them find a
market share and some of them tank. And _some_ of them, like the Newton
and like Hypercard, start out poorly, build momentum, and then get discontinued
just as they are starting to develop a market. The Ipod caught on, but if
it hadn't, I am sure Apple has plenty more things waiting in the wings.
Some will be great and some will be useless.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
reddred wrote:
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message

Apple is really good at pulling disconnected rabbits out of hats, and
they
have been doing so since they started. Aside from a couple mistakes,
like
the Apple III

I don't think they supported that much. Things like the Newton were just
too
weird at the time for people to embrace. I kind of like what they're
doing
now, coming at it from the entertainment gadget angle.

They didn't support the III at all, as far as I could tell, which is why
nobody bought it. It could do everything the Apple II could do, for a
whole lot more money. That's not a good marketing plan.


The emulation mode was a dumb idea, too. I think a IIe was basically what
the III should have been.


Apple does not seem to really do careful investigation of the market
before
making products; they make products that are neat and some of them find a
market share and some of them tank.

That's one of the things I like about them. It's more like media companies
used to be, it's very odd for a technology company to be like that once they
are any size at all. It seems to work for them, though.

jb

reddred wrote:
I don't think they supported that much. Things like the Newton were just too
weird at the time for people to embrace.

If by "weird" you mean "expensive and falling far short of its promise
of recognizing handwriting", then I agree. ;-)

And yeah, I know they released some update where the handwriting
recognitiong was much-improved, but by that time it already had
a reputation for being an impractical gadget that was desirable
only to hard-core gadget freaks.

- Logan

In article , Scott Dorsey
wrote:

So what's the next rabbit from the hat?

A follow-on to the Newton.

--scott


No chance for a Newton like device anytime soon, accord to Jobs on
multiple occasions over the past few years. And when you look at the
marketplace, you gotta tip your hat for the Steve-ing the Newton,
Scully's baby.

One of the things Apple's been doing is keeping the iPod "pure" by not
filling it with a whole bunch of other functions. 3rd parties are
hacking little programs into it but not yet Apple.

Supposedly they are watching to see how the new photo iPod does before
mucking the waters further. I always thought it obvious that they add
an am/fm tuner to the thing.





David Correia
Celebration Sound
Warren, Rhode Island


www.CelebrationSound.com