Absolutely there is more room for improvements and those improvements can be categorized as long term massive improvements. Lets hope it will happen in the near future.
Fair enough, Ron. That's been the appeal of Rhapsody for me -- as much or as little music as I like, same very low, flat monthly rate (you pay extra if you start ripping tracks, but since I can access my Rhapsody account from any device, I rarely want to).
This would be an extension of the iTunes store where instead of buying individual tracks, you would pay a monthly subscription. It's less like Pandora (which is how the WSJ described it) and more like Rhapsody.
In the words of the late, great Gilda Radner (playng Emily Latella), "Oh, that's very different."
Because Apple has all those devices in play, an all-you-can eat subcription service could in fact be an attractive option if done right, but it would still have a number of obstacles to overcome, chiefly the record companies themselves, which would likely charge ridiculous fees to Apple (and they don't have Steve Jobs to bully them into participating this time).
Secondly, it would depend how much Apple charges for the service. I still think Spotify and Pandora offer better options at this point, but as the article pointed out there are still only 13.4 m subscribers in the world. Many people (myself included) are content to use these services and put up with the ads.
For now, Apple is holding back, and as I've written participation is not a guarantee of success, but this article defines the service differently than the WSJ and it is more promising than I originally thought.
k9gardner - It's a hardware company in the sense that hardware is its primary focus, and the way it generates profits. The software and services are tools to enhance the hardware.
That's why Apple only flirted briefly with licensing its OS, Microsoft-like, why its own apps are less desired than its competitors, and why it's had such a struggle with cloud computing (with the enormous exception of iTunes).
Something I wanted was to able to listen to a particular song ... I've filled that void with YouTube but sometimes I dont need/want the video (but pay for it: data). Spotify filled that gap, but I think there's room for more.
Ron : Why are you saying that there is no need for Apple to enter Internet Radio Market ? Any specific reason ? I feel they have the capabilities to do that and Im sure they are considering it in a strong way because they ahave everything in place other than Internet Radio. True there are apps which connects to internet radio but its not the same after all.
DukeW, such a curmudgeon! "Does the name SCO ring any bells?" First of all, which SCO are you talking about, old SCO, or The SCO Group? Second, what's the relevance? None that I can see. Many companies, like the various incarnations of SCO, shake and wobble as they go through growing pains; factions develop, groups split off, new ones are absorbed. Sometimes they are able to be assimilated into a cohesive whole, sometimes the stresses are too great to be reconciled. Apple has gone through some of this on several occasions in its life, but nothing recently that has been on the level of what you seem to be talking about.
Let's fast forward a decade or so to where Apple is now. "Their products are clever, but in no way superior." Can you back that statement up? I can make the opposite claim, and say that their products are superior, and I can back it up with examples of greater attention to details of design, execution, human interface, overall fit and finish, usability and, ultimately, recyclability. Some of these areas are not even in the equation for competing products.
I agree wth what you're saying, but I'm not jumping through hoops here to use other products. There are great products already out there. That's my point. When Apple created the iPod and the iPhone, yes they innovated and yest they created a better product because the existing ones just weren't that good. That's not the case here. The existing products are actually quite good.
As for iTunes, I assure you I'm not alone. Most people I know who are regular Apple product users loathe iTunes.
I think Apple for the most part has made great products, but they have done it by identifying problems in the exsting products and coming up with much better alternatives. In his biography, Steve Jobs talked about creating the iPod and the iPhone as a reaction to how weak the existing products were They created products they wanted to use. I don't see much room for improvement in this particular area. Of course it's possible that Apple is looking at something different, but I doubt it.
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