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.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
The US National Security Agency learned the hard way that it can be dangerous to give a contractor too much money and access, with too little scrutiny. The NSA and other government agencies hire tens of thousands of contractors
a year to analyze data. Edward Snowden -- who revealed himself as the NSA leaker after fleeing the country -- was one such contractor, reportedly holding a $122,000 salaried position at Booz Allen Hamilton at the time of his departure.
Midsize businesses rarely achieve the same standards of security in their own datacenters as professional providers that specialize in delivering these services to organizations.
Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority is conducting a pilot test of digital kiosks to guide subway users to where they want to go more efficiently and at lower cost.
The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
Expert Integrated Systems: Changing the Experience & Economics of IT In this e-book, we take an in-depth look at these expert integrated systems -- what they are, how they work, and how they have the potential to help CIOs achieve dramatic savings while restoring IT's role as business innovator. READ THIS eBOOK
your weekly update of news, analysis, and
opinion from Internet Evolution - FREE! REGISTER HERE
Wanted! Site Moderators Internet Evolution is looking for a handful of readers to help moderate the message boards on our site – as well as engaging in high-IQ conversation with the industry mavens on our thinkerNet blogosphere. The job comes with various perks, bags of kudos, and GIANT bragging rights. Interested?
To save this item to your list of favorite Internet Evolution content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
