Submitted by “Apple has allegedly been pressuring music labels to ditch Amazon MP3’s ‘Daily Deal’ promotions, lest they be excluded from being promoted through the iTunes machine. According to anonymous executives speaking to Billboard, Apple has always been uncomfortable with the labels double dipping with both iTunes and Amazon, but the company has ramped up its complaints lately in an attempt to retain its lead in the online music market. Though Apple still remains in the number one spot among all music retailers, the move is indicative that Apple takes competition from Amazon very seriously.” Apparently iTunes has a 70% market share… Doesn’t that make this kind of, well, monopoly abuse? Reminds me of Intel’s rebates for OEMs to not use AMD.
The whole thing is stupid. Record labels making deals with Amazon… Apple fighting back… Digital music in itself is the music industry. Music is so steal-able that the consumer sets the prices and the deals. Record labels in themselves are almost silly these days.
Ok, I’ve had it. I’m done with Apple. Once my iPhone and Macbook die, that’s it. The DMCA bs, the patent trolling, now making threats to try and force iTunes to stay at the top. Apple simply cannot handle competition. They were innovators once, now they just want to sit on their ass and bully everyone instead of actually doing something.
To Apple, even though you don’t listen: Amazon MP3 is becoming popular for one huge reason… You don’t need to use iTunes! You can download on any major platform you want–Windows, OS X, Linux, Android… Guess what, that’s a wider market reach than Apple can hope to match with their vertical integration philosophy. iTunes, eventually, is a dead end as it stands now. If Apple wants to keep on top, they need to recognize why other products are gaining in popularity and learn from it. The only eventual end to this bullying is an anti-Apple backlash on the part of those who have the big money: record labels, movie studios, etc.
Exactly. Apple is by far more evil than MS ever was.
Ha, a friend of mine was just commenting on how Apple has replaced MS on the ‘most hated’ list.
Apple have been rotten to the core since their inception. I’m surprised it’s taken this long for people to wake up.
People really need to look at the bigger picture before supporting a company like this. It’s much harder to gain back freedoms once many have been stolen.
Prevention is the best cure, simply don’t deal with products that would give you cancer, pretty simple really.
Nah. One certainly couldn’t call computers like the Apple II locked down or claim they infringed on freedoms. They were a hacker’s delight. Of course, that was when Apple still had a hacker in charge. They turned rotten a lot more recently, with the inception of the iPhone and Jobs saw an opportunity to grab complete control of the Apple ecosystem. The app store marked the rot, I think, though you could make a case that it started with the iPod/iTunes lock-in and culminated in the app store.
it started with the macintosh. so yes, it was very early in their development.
This ladies and gentlemen is what you call an anti-trust violation.
Draconian control of AppStore …
Bashing competitors product to make yours look good (I’m a mac commercials) …
Suing fan sites for leaking information …
Not honoring support contracts …
Putting out products that catch fire and blow up (iPhone) …
Stealing other people’s IP …
.. while patent trolling
Clear anti-trust violation in trying to bully record companies from dealing with Amazon …
Apple’s products suck (even though they are slickly packaged and easy to use), they can’t innovate, and they can’t compete. They’re doing everything they can to stop any competition.
Apple’s products suck (even though they are slickly packaged and easy to use)
This is exactly why they DON’T suck… they are slickly packaged and EASY TO USE.
So are dozens of other competing products.
For example: One can hardly accuse Android of being a usability nightmare.
Did I say otherwise? My point was that is why Apple products are popular, not why others are not.
But by saying that’s why Apple products are popular is infering that others aren’t slick nor easy to use.
Apples success more down to PR – they know how to market their products and they do it well.
> So well in fact, that even some techies forget that there’s competing products on the market.
> So well, that they’ve virtually created their own religious following.
> And so well that people forget that underneath the polished polycarbonates lies the beating diodes of standard components available for any phone/laptop/PC/etc.
Case in point: Apple don’t have as large market share on smartphones as is widely reported. Good marketing spin on their part
Edited 2010-03-08 10:17 UTC
Not implying that others are inferior at all. And you hit the nail on the head. They not only make products that are “easy to use” but they also know how to market them. So they do two things well, and that has added up to a fairly successful run over the past decade.
So, they make products that people actually want to use, and that’s the one thing they do well, and that sucks?
This is the reason Apple is successful while others are suffering. Apple made the iPod, and made it easy to use. The result, the market rewards them with a dominant share of the market. Even when other were making touch screen phones, they still sucked big time, until Apple provided the blueprint, and everyone else is now copying it. Technology is useless until it is useful for people. The most important innovation are those that make technology useful for people, not innovation for innovation’s sake.