Paul Thurrott responds to Russell Beattie's post on why Steve Jobs is wrong about mobile video.
About Me
I'm an AIESECer.
I'm a recent graduate of a Business IT degree from UNSW.
I used to be apathetic; now I want to change the apathy I see around me.
I want to make the world a better place... somehow. These are my notes and thoughts on that journey.
Why do you keep reading his blog? Man some of his comments show his complete idiocy.
“Apple can’t afford to launch a huge failure”.
Define huge failure? Is the xbox a huge failure? It has lost less money over the years (around 3 billion) than Apple has in the bank. It could certainly eat that loss of it needed to. In fact, if a “large failure” cost is $500 million, it could afford to make 10 of the losses. Good logic there.
“No one is interested in Apple’s small platform”.
What has that got to do with the iPod playing movies? No one was interested in Apple’s small platform for iTunes… oh wait… they released on the Mac first and only on the Mac for some time.
“Apple’s relatively limited R&D budget…”
Relatively limited in comparison to what, Dell? Apple has a bigger R&D budget than Dell. Apple could of course expand R&D now, they will post a $250 million profit next quarter. More good logic!
“Steve Jobs’ ties to the movie industry”
Steve Jobs wants money, like any corporate entity. If he can find a way of making lots of money (the iPod makes more money a year than Pixar) then he will. I believe Steve is correct in saying that no one (or a really limited subset) want to watch movies on their pod. I would rather watch them on a PowerBook or iBook. Real screen.
This doesn’t take into account his post that slams Walt Mossberg, who of course is slightly more reputable than Paul. Idiocy.
Seems John agrees with me:
http://daringfireball.net/2004/10/ipod_mania
Why do you keep reading his blog? Man some of his comments show his complete idiocy.
Some of what he says is bollocks, but other times, he does have some interesting (and valid) views. No point in blocking out those that you don’t agree with. Then you’re just a zealot.
�Apple can�t afford to launch a huge failure”.
Define huge failure? Is the xbox a huge failure? It has lost less money over the years (around 3 billion) than Apple has in the bank. It could certainly eat that loss of it needed to. In fact, if a �large failure� cost is $500 million, it could afford to make 10 of the losses. Good logic there.
The XBox has lost an absolute ton of money, but it has gotten Microsoft well and truly into the console market. I saw an article the other day (haven’t got the link, sorry), that said the XBox held 52% of the market in the UK. For a first-generation machine (as opposed to 2nd-gen from Sony and 4th-gen from Nintendo), that’s pretty good. Chances are that when the next XBox comes out, many of the current owners will buy it.
I think his point about a “huge failure” is that if Apple launches something and it flops, it could take a big bite out of their cash stores. If this happens to be in the area of the Macintosh brand, then that could be problematic.
�No one is interested in Apple�s small platform”.
What has that got to do with the iPod playing movies? No one was interested in Apple�s small platform for iTunes� oh wait� they released on the Mac first and only on the Mac for some time.
Yeah, that is a bit weird. You could have said the same thing about the iTunes Music Store, too, and look at how big that has become.
�Apple�s relatively limited R&D budget��
Relatively limited in comparison to what, Dell? Apple has a bigger R&D budget than Dell. Apple could of course expand R&D now, they will post a $250 million profit next quarter. More good logic!
… compared to Microsoft. While that is true, Microsoft is an absolute behemoth, with R&D in many, many, fields. Apple is a lot more concentrated (I think), and is probably able to concentrate on a few areas. Which works better, I don’t know.
�Steve Jobs� ties to the movie industry�
Steve Jobs wants money, like any corporate entity. If he can find a way of making lots of money (the iPod makes more money a year than Pixar) then he will. I believe Steve is correct in saying that no one (or a really limited subset) want to watch movies on their pod. I would rather watch them on a PowerBook or iBook. Real screen.
Hummm… I found another article on this topic, which I’ll post soon. I don’t see a problem with this. If Apple (and Steve Jobs) wanted to make an online video store, they’d develop some way to distribute those movies, without pissing off the MPAA and movie industry. If they managed to do it with the iTMS, I’m sure they could do it for an online video store.
This doesn�t take into account his post that slams Walt Mossberg, who of course is slightly more reputable than Paul. Idiocy.
I don’t think reputation has anything to do with it. Walt Mossberg could have given a dud review, and Paul Thurrott could have pointed out some of the flaws in it. Who’s right then? However, the article in question has Paul Thurrott nit-pick at everything. He also says “What I find most alarming here–this is Mossberg, after all, so you have to temper your expectations–is that he actually complains about the look and style of the Rio Carbon, which is simply the most gorgeous Mini player you can buy today.” Hmmm… I would say the iPod Mini is a lot nicer than the Rio Carbon. But obviously he disagrees.