Comments on: Palm to Apple: Block This!

By: Elliot

Elliot — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 18:44:12 +0000

A little off topic: I would love to see a iTunes competitor appear and inject some competition into this game. iTunes is good – but far from perfect. I haven’t seen a good media library program that challenges iTunes yet (anyone know of one?). I want to see a competitor come along (amazon?) and create a program that integrates their music/movies/tvshow libraries, but also opened up the software to accept ALL media formats (not just Apple approved formats like mpeg4).

More on topic: I don’t think Apple will ever let any other devices sync with iTunes. Sure it would drive growth in iTunes user base, which would give Apple even more leverage on the media companies, but Apple makes little to no money on iTunes. They run it at near break even. The only reason they have it is to drive growth in their iPod/iPhones – which is where they make their money. If they allowed BlackBerry’s and Pre’s to sync with iTunes, that takes away a lot (but certainly not all) of the incentive to buy Apple products. Now if they did open it up to other devices, Apple would want to start making money on the iTunes store…which means raising the prices and renegotiating all those contracts with the media companies.

Just my $0.02

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:29:59 +0000

I can’t believe people actually WANT to use that horrid pos that is itunes for anything.

By: jltnol

jltnol — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:25:56 +0000

Who benefits? Well what happens is that this is the Apple Clone debacle from the ’90′s. Why by more expensive Apple products when cheap, Wallmart products do the same thing with iTunes.

I don’t think this is the route Apple should go.

By: Paul Judd

Paul Judd — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:10:50 +0000

Disputatore
You can purchase music content all you want for your pre. Apple does not lock them into iTunes at all. Tons of software out there uses Apple’s XML file to read the library and sync with players and Apple has never had a problem

By: Paul Judd

Paul Judd — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:08:51 +0000

RE: Evan:

Apple doesn’t have a hold on the music industry. They may be the number one seller of tunes, but the whole affair regarding DRM free has shown us that the control is mostly in the hands of the recording companies who source their content out to many competitors.

The relevant market is music stores in general, not just downloaded content because your music library can be made up of CD’s.

Simple dominance due to popularity does not a monopoly, much less an anti-competitive one. If I want to put music on my iPod or any other players, I do not have to give Apple one red cent such is the competition. Apple is popular and convenient no doubt, but that is 100% legal.

We should also point out that Apple makes very little money on iTunes. Its a foil so that they can sell iPods much as selling a cheap game console is intended to get you to buy expensive games

By: Disputatore

Disputatore — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:52:44 +0000

This guerilla war is stupid. What? Isn’t Pre-owner’s money good enough for Apple? Read my lips, Apple o-p-e-n m-a-r-k-e-t-s are a good thing.

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:34:30 +0000

If there are any business lawyers out there, I’d be interested to hear your take on this. Does Apples’ hold on the digital music download business qualify as a monopoly, such that they can’t use a strength in one area (digital music) to hurt competitors in other area (mobile phones), sort of like what Microsoft got slapped for?

By: gw

gw — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:59:27 +0000

It seems like money in the bank for Apple. “Use my stuff, but pay me”.

By: sfmitch

sfmitch — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:59:19 +0000

On this particular issue – Palm is wrong and deserves to lose. They should offer a real solution for their customers, not a BS hack. Palm’s behavior is actually pretty embarrassing.

It’s not a question of little guy vs big guy but a question of delivering real solutions (Palm creates their own sync solution or licenses an existing one) vs crackpot piggyback schemes onto a competitor’s solution..

It is a bit ironic considering Palm’s syncing chops has traditionally been a competitive advantage.

By: Steven Fisher

Steven Fisher — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:10:41 +0000

It sounds like a good idea, but taking hands off the iTunes syncing to the Pre means that sooner or later Apple’s going to have to support it, and that costs money.

The smart way for Palm to do this would have been to include an installer for Palm’s own software on the Pre itself, so when it’s plugged in it’s obvious what the user needs to do. That’s what my Flip did, I believe.