Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A is for Apple

A is for Apple. J is for Jacks.  Cinnamon, toasty, Apple Jacks!

Thinking about Apple.  When folks think of who created the MP3 craze, everyone thinks Apple iPods.  But I had my first generic MP3 CD player years before the iPod.  Then I bought a Nomad Jukebox, which I still use.  Now I use my Treo smartphone for music.  Apple had a great marketing strategy and teamed up their iPod with the iTunes music store.  That was really the first transition from folks downloading free music to a service that integrated a player with legally purchased music.

Now they're launching the iPhone.  New concept?  Not at all.  There are Blackberries, Treos, Qs, Blackjacks, and lots of flavor of Pocket PC smartphones out there.  Apple isn't the first on the scene.  I like my Treo and was thinking about getting a Blackjack in the months ahead.  Now Apple has me wondering if I should wait until June to check out the iPhone.  I have a hunch that 5 years down the road, folks will credit Apple for creating the smartphone.

Likewise, Apple is creating iTV which allows folks to stream content from their PC over a wireless network to their TVs.  New idea?  Not at all.  The Linksys Media Extender works with Windows XP Media Center to do the same thing.  I've been using it for almost 3 years now.  Microsoft's XBOX 360 allows you to stream content from the PC to the TV, too.  But will Apple get the recognition for being the innovator here?

We have to tip our hats to Apple for creating a usable interface that makes their products useable by non-geeks.  Apple gets credit for outstanding marketing of their products.  If I were a maker of smartphones, I'd be worried that Apple is going to wipe my product off the market.  And what about the non-Cingular wireless companies that won't have the iPhone in their product lines?  Tivo should be worried, too.

Cinnamon, toasty, Apple Jacks!

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