Has anyone got any information on this? I’d love a 1.67GHz Powerbook, but paying an extra couple of hundred for it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.

By tying yourself to the software side at the expense of loosening your grip on the hardware side, you insulate yourself against changing trends in devices.

The optimist in me hopes you’re right about the iPod/iTMS combo being so good that people will never want to leave, but the realist in me remembers that people just don’t always go for what’s best (see: Windows). They go with what’s cheapest, nearest to them, and what others around them are using. If the majority of iPod users’ music actually came from the iTMS, then I think the staying power would be a bit stronger, but I bet the average percentage of music on a typical iPod that is iTMS-related is well under 5%.

I was going to post a nice lengthly commentary on the MacWorld Expo, but you’ve literally said everything exactly as I would have said it. Thanks. Now I can just link you and go to bed. :)

Your definition of a Mac Media Center is right on. It’s funny that I’m dying for Apple to release something that will directly replace my favorite piece of technology in the world – my DirecTivos.

I’d be first in line to fund your dream device.

Digital Lifestyle = Music + Photos + Movies + Television

With the HD codec for quicktime, what component are we missing? None that I can see.

Thanks again for a well-informed opinion piece.

Notice how those Dell Jukebox ads always show the player in somebody’s pocket? It’s the illusion of the iPod. You can show off a little white to make it look like you’re representin’, but really you know if you pull the POS out of your pocket you’ll be laughed out of town by the cool kids.

“You bought a Dell player? What up wid you?”

As long as Apple forsees contuation of this status, my guess is that we won’t see Fairplay licensing.

Apple’s foray into the phone market, check out my original post on your “iPhone Update”.

Told ya so! :P

Anyway, if America finally switches over GSM (meaning over 95% market share, and full coverage), Apple might release a device that’d actually be good enough to quallify as an iPhone.

However, I don’t know what the market is like in the US, if pre-paids are as big over there as over here (in Europe), if abbo’s are packaged in with enormously subsidised phones, or something completely different.

I ask this, because I hear people talking about their (for example) Verizon T-600, not their Sony-Ericsson T-600. If replacement branding is that bad to get your phone sold, I can’t see Apple selling a phone that’ll be known as the ‘Cingular i550’ for example.

Another doubt I have is that Apple doesn’t have a small company to buy for Apple to get the technology it needs. Phone’s aren’t about 1.45Ghz/256mb/combo, they’re about features. Now features aren’t the only thing, as most people will go for the most reasonble looking phone with the most reasonble deal (i.e. not a 25$ / month abbo). That’s something Apple can’t trully control, so if they can work around that, they’re set to go.

Apple does not make a whole lot of money selling iPods. It is one of their lowest-margin products, in fact.

Uhh, you couldn’t be further from the truth. Apple makes upwards of $100 on the iPod mini. The iPod Photo and the higher-end iPods make more – while costing only $500 or so – than the iMacs, PowerBooks, etc.

(Editor’s Note: Erik: From everything I’ve read, iPod net margins are anywhere from 1% to 4% depending on if you include intangibles and expenses not directly related to sales. That’s not a high-margin product in my book and it’s certainly a lot less than the net margin of Macs. There’s more information here if you’d like to read up on it.)

Think about it, they could have wired the head phones into the lanyard and had the jack right in the cap and the people in the commercial wouldn’t have looked like they were being attacked by some alien creature with yards of tentacles.

Also the dock or potential car units or third party speaker docks like Bose could have had it slide right on, though I suppose thats really moot since they use usb anyway, but I digress.If for no other reason than the lanyard they should have combined them on the one end of the device. It’s nitpicking I know but I like when form follows function and vice versa and as tight as this little unit is that just seems like an oversight to me.

Of course I’m just a monday morning product engineer.

Just a thought.
J.

Presumably I’d be able to use startup items to specify which services I want started, and crontab entries to restart any crashed processes I need.