“Say goodbye to your DVD player and Tivo box? Perhaps, if one analyst’s predictions come true — they could be replaced by the ubiquitous iPod, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who issued a research note predicting products in Apple’s pipeline,” Amanda Cantrell writes for CNN/Money. “While predicting what products the notoriously secretive Apple is going to launch next can lead normally rational analysts into flights of ‘wild speculation,’ as Munster put it, he believes the company is gunning to be the consumer hub for digital media — and that it’s got a foundation in place to do that.”
“Muster said that within five years, Apple could release an iPod with one terabyte of storage — that’s almost 17 times the maximum amount of iPod storage Apple currently offers,” Cantrell writes. “Munster envisions a one terabyte iPod as a portable, ‘coffee table’ media center that would allow users to store hundreds of movies and thousands of photos and songs. Munster wrote that fellow Piper Jaffray analyst Les Santiago, who covers data storage technologies, thinks Apple could feasibly release a $500, one terabyte iPod in the next five years.”
“Last month, Apple unveiled the widely-anticipated video-enabled iPod that allows users to download and play music videos, home movies, and one of five shows from ABC and Disney, including ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Lost,’ from its iTunes Internet music store. What’s more, they can watch content downloaded onto the video iPod on a normal television. Within a month, Apple sold one million videos and short films through iTunes,” Cantrell writes. “But Apple’s already facing stiff competition in the nascent new market, as CBS and NBC announced earlier this week plans to let viewers buy episodes of some of its programs on demand through their television sets at $0.99 per episode, a buck cheaper than what Apple is charging customers to download episodes of ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Lost.'”
Full article, including Apple-branded ‘iPhone’ speculation, here.
Advertisement: The New iPod with Video. The ultimate music + video experience on the go. From $299. Free shipping.
Actually, Apple is already facing weak competition. The CBS and NBC plans are wholly not portable and evaporate in a week (there goes your dollar, if you miss it) – NBC and CBS program offerings will only be available until the following week’s episode airs. Apple’s ABC shows are portable, unlimited, and can be played on Macs, Windows PCs, iPods and any screen to which you wish to output.
“Stiff competition?” Excuse us for laughing. Is that anything like “iPod killer?” We’ve heard it all before from the likes of Rio (defunct), Virgin Electronics (out of the MP3 player business), Olympus (out of the MP3 player business), Creative (no longer concentrating on their self-declared MP3 player “war,” but on staying in business), BuyMusic (defunct), Napster (couldn’t compete in a la carte downloads, trying subscription plans to rent music), Real (ditto), Yahoo (ditto), Microsoft (ditto), and on and on and on.
Apple has already sold over one million videos in less than their first 20 days of operation. That was without hardly any 5G video-capable iPods in people’s hands. If you’re going to write that “Apple’s facing stiff competition,” how about providing some proof? Apple sold one million iPod nano units in the first 17 days of availability. The video-capable iPod has been out now for one month as of tomorrow. It’s a sure bet that Apple’s sold well in excess of one million units, most likely, they’ve already sold around two million units. Apple has over ten million credit card accounts signed up on iTunes. These are all facts that support the statement that Apple is not facing stiff competition. Cantrell offers nothing to support her claim of “stiff competition.”
Users can only buy a handful of select NBC shows if you happen to own a DirecTV Plus DVR. Why buy a show if you can record it for free on the DVR that you need to have in order to buy the content? Maybe if you miss one, but that amounts to precious few sales. A select few of CBS shows are available to Comcast subscribers using Comcast’s On Demand service. Neither service is portable – they’re tied to the respective boxes – and they’re gone for good in less than a week. These are not “stiff competition” that Apple faces, they are weak jokes from dinosaurs who haven’t yet figured out how to get Steve Jobs on the phone. Both NBC and CBS will get onto iTunes eventually. There are just way too many iPods being sold and far too many copies of iTunes being downloaded and used for both networks not to do so.
Related articles:
Who would have thought that a computer company would change the face of TV? – November 11, 2005
NBC, CBS ‘shows on demand for 99 cents’ plans laughable compared to Apple iTunes+iPod – November 08, 2005
Apple’s iTunes Music Store sells over one million videos in under 20 days – October 31, 2005
Can Apple’s iTunes Store resurrect old time TV? – October 30, 2005
Has Apple’s Steve Jobs saved network television or simply helped hasten its death? – October 27, 2005
TV network presidents see no threat from Apple video iTunes+iPod – October 27, 2005
BusinessWeek: Apple iPod+iTunes video marks new era for digital media – October 27, 2005
TV Critic: Apple iPod video strikingly bright, crisp, very fluid; TV will have to reorient itself – October 27, 2005
Thurrott: Apple iPod ‘the new standard by which all are measured – highly recommended’ – October 26, 2005
Chicago Tribune: Apple’s new iPod is a showstopper – October 26, 2005
PC Magazine review gives Apple’s new video-capable iPod 5 out of 5 stars – October 21, 2005
CBS News: New iPod shows ‘Apple will continue to dominate portable digital media player market’ – October 21, 2005
Apple’s video-capable iPod and iTunes are first vital link in new distribution paradigm – October 21, 2005
USA Today: Apple’s new iPod + video: world’s foremost portable music players have gotten only better – October 20, 2005
Comprehensive review of Apple’s iPod 5G with Video – October 20, 2005
The Motley Fool: ‘Apple’s new video-enabled iPod is about to save the televised content industry’ – October 20, 2005
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s new video-capable iPod – October 20, 2005
NY Times Pogue: ‘watching video on new iPod’s 2.5-inch screen is completely immersive’ – October 19, 2005
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Apple’s $1.99 iTunes TV show downloads may be ‘the savior of good television’ – October 17, 2005
Apple opens Pandora’s box for the media business, could have profound long-term consequences – October 17, 2005
BofA analyst: Apple video play an ‘evolutionary opportunity,’ 9.3m iPods to be sold this quarter – October 17, 2005
Apple has the potential to change not just the audio industry, but the whole entertainment industry – October 17, 2005
Advertisers welcome Apple’s iTunes Store commerical-free content – October 17, 2005
New York Times writer can’t think different: ‘video iPod may not be ready for prime time’ – October 17, 2005
Cringely on Apple video experiment, future 802.11n Apple Video Express, Sony TVs in Apple stores – October 14, 2005
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Forrester Research: Apple transformed music distribution, now it is doing the same for video – October 14, 2005
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Get ready for the iPod video torrent search sites – October 13, 2005
Apple’s new iMac G5, iTunes 6, iPod video designed to bait Hollywood – October 13, 2005
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Analyst: Apple has just produced ‘the tipping point’ for entertainment content – October 13, 2005
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Apple unveils new 5th generation iPod, now plays music, photos, and video – October 12, 2005
not first=not a total loser
MW-front as: in front of the line of losers?
Add to it that the CBS shows are only available in 17 metro areas where CBS owns the local station. And though uncertain, it’s been reported that the CBS on demand shows will still contain the ads. Oh yeah, it’s not available until January.
Love all the flavors of the iPod … but, hey, tryin to watch a video on that postage stamp of a screen would make my eyes blur …
I need a big screen !!
How about selling it through Sprint at $5.99 an episode? Make it a ringvideo if necessary.
The only ways I’ve watched Desperate Housewives: (1) Cross-eyed, (2) Through the blinds.
Seriously though, in the morass of confusion, Jobs stands out as a beacon of light; the only one who shows clarity of vision.
<sarcasm>MDN, Now tell us what you really think!</sarcasm>
looking at that list you could say the same thing about the home PC.
all the companies that couldn’t compete with Apple, just gave up..
As a result many people today use a mediocre monstrosity called Windows.. which aims to be a Mac.. by.. not being Vertically Integrated..
which isn’t a Mac.
No more purely boring long lines etc. with the video ipod, I can actually watch something more interesting than the DMV customers…sweet
Andrew Hamilton
Videographers in Las Vegas
Hamilton International Productions
http://www.hiproductions.com
Where is Shaw Wu? And why is he letting Gene Munster upstage him like this? C’mon, Shaw- up the storage to 2 terabytes and move the stock up as well.
If they only want to charge a buck for them, let Apple charge 1.99 and give them a buck and keep a buck for themselves.
CNN is a big joke itself.
Why does MDN feel the need to add its editorial opinion on stories???
Really…the MDN 2cents is longer than the article text it shows. Does MDN just pick out Apple related news that it wants to jabber about?
NBC and CBS will jump at iTunes once they realize that it’s a great branding tool for their programs and increases viewer loyalty of those shows.
I don’t know who these people are that write these analysis pieces on technology, but they probably are born out of the same mold of people that think they are making a competing product just by throwing something out there instead of really thinking it through.
“Why does MDN feel the need to add its editorial opinion on stories???”
Why do people feel the need to complain about MDN making editorial comments? It’s what they do. It’s funny. If you don’t like it, there are all sorta of other bland Mac News sites out there for you to visit. Or better yet, go start your own champ.
Hammer: “Why do people feel the need to complain about MDN making editorial comments?”
Why do people feel the need to complain about people complaining about MDN making editorial comments?
We have very thin skin here. Don´t question our words of wisdumb.
what’s so great about the fact that 1 million videos have been downloaded in 20 days? About 5 Million people watch the nightly news on ABC everyday, and all the media can do is complain how the news show is dying. Given how few people own an ipod, compared to TV’s, It’s going to take some time for apple to catch up and get some real numbers going before anyone in tvland really cares.
As ususal Apple has a universal solution that goes out to millions of people regardless of where they live. NBC, & CBS, on the other hand, are pandering to the Nielsen ratings areas by limiting their offereings to certain (mostly east coast) cablecos.
I live in Alaska and am sick & tired of being treated as a foreign country by AMERICAN companies.
Thank you Apple, Thank You Amazon* for treating us as equals.
John
from the balmy 0ºF Fairbanks Alaska morning
*many many companies require overnite-only shipping to Alaska so they can “track” their packages. Apple & Amazon ALWAYS let us choose the much cheaper USPS.
Why does anyone think the iPod as we now know it is key here? Sure, it’s a money maker and PR dream, but it’s not and won’t ever be the key to *video* market domination (though it may become so for audio). It’s not Macs or OS X either, it’s two other things: integration of the iTunes installed PC base (which will *always* dwarf iPod sales) with the music/ video store; and iTunes on phones. If Apple plays its cards right, it’s ‘online shop front’ will rapidly become the default place to acquire audio & video content on phones (as it is now on PCs), which for the forseeable future will remain the far more widespread handheld media delivery platform.
If they’re successful at that, the video market will be as locked in as the music market is now. In a few years, most of us who want to buy movies will purchase and watch them at home on the PC-TV, and if we want to see them on the go, sync them to our (any brand) phone. Some, but less, buying will be done from the phone/ iPod/ iPhone itself. But both THROUGH iTunes…
The networks are testing the technology and user water while desperately trying to think of a way of outmanoeuvring Apple. But the current signs are that they are being outflanked by Apple’s technological, hardware and market position combined with its (currently) superior strategic thinking. It’s not yet a done deal (e.g. Microsoft could buy Sony!), but I know who’d I’d bet on.
The iPod, meanwhile, will become a range of wireless recording/ communication/ video transport devices (some for example with integrated or at least add-on still/ video cameras). Given how tiny and video-capable mobile phone circuitry is becoming, I find it hard to believe that Apple will not eventually include it – global 3G mobile iChat anyone?
And… a TERABYTE in my shirt pocket? 1000Gb! Niiice… but might we mean one Gb?
Archos has been doing it for years.
Tivo has a universal solution, Apple has an iPod.
naim audio asks: “what’s so great about the fact that 1 million videos have been downloaded in 20 days?”
How to answer such a stupid question? Let’s try it this way-
21 days before this milestone, legal television show and music video downloads for money was not a market. Apple created the market. The profit on this enterprise is nearly 100% for the studios, because they’ve already paid for the shows with ad revenue.
Apple already had the necessary infrastructure in place, so the additional revenue for Apple is nearly pure profit.
The answer to your question has nothing to do with marketshare or viewership or any of the silly numbers you are using as a benchmark. The answer to your question is that 2 million dollars of nearly pure profit were made in 20 days in a market that previously didn’t exist.
That is extremely impressive. Let’s see you try that.
All TV shows are available for download on the new iPod… FOR FREE. Mine currently has recent episodes from all the networks and they look perfect. All you need is an EyeTV box. The included software lets you export to the PSP format which works perfectly on the new iPod. I’m surprised more people don’t point this out!!!!!!!!!!!
Next.