Gotta Get One
Apple introduced the video iPod today.
I gotta get one.
60gigs for $399 seems like a pretty good deal.
It was never heavily advertised by Apple, but iTunes has been able to play video for a while now, at least since version 4.9.
And since iTunes also accepts RSS feeds, I've been watching funny videos in iTunes for a while.
I do that by putting the following feed into the "subscribe to podcast" field in iTunes:
http://del.icio.us/rss/tag/funny+system:filetype:mov
So now I can watch the funny videos I get with this feed on an iPod while killing time on the subway.
Cool.
Anyone think that Jobs might have "persuaded" Disney to release ABC shows on the iPod in exchange for a Pixar/Disney partnership renewal?
Posted by: Dan | October 12, 2005 at 07:29 PM
Is the video iPod a big deal? I don't think so. Why? It's not a mobile phone. Steve Jobs should go to Japan and Korea. He could see the future there.
"The future is here, it's just not evenly distributed yet."
William Gibson
DoCoMo Net - Products
http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/p_s/products/index.html
i-mode Business Strategy
http://www.imodestrategy.com
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | October 12, 2005 at 09:07 PM
Who will challenge the iPOD?
"The argument trotted out by the mobile phone makers and operators is always the same..(that) there will always be an iPod, but the fact is there are 1.6bn mobile handsets around the world and only 16m iPods....thus far Apple has sold more than 22 million iPods, and if you add rivals' sales you get roughly 30 million MP3 players shipped since their introduction about five years ago. Compare that to the number of people with a mobile phone: close to two billion."
http://www.wirelessly.org/entry/who-will-challenge-the-ipod/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/30/mobiles_aim_at_ipods/
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | October 12, 2005 at 09:18 PM
Hopefully it won't be long before Apple launches a version with a larger screen.
How about placing it in "landscape" as the PSP?
Posted by: Digital Media Review | October 12, 2005 at 09:41 PM
pffft ive had it with apple ....
fred why do you NEED one ?
why is that every time apple release a new yet old idea product every noob on the planet is jumping to the moon and back thinking they the latest and greatest innovators of time .. I mean really .. not to mention why you would want 100 portable videos .. but then again apple stopt asking why a long time ago....
further more i cant wait to see apple consumers try and port video into quicktime format then compress and send via itunes albeit in their (fastest machines in the world tagline) wot a crock of poo ..... you thought mp3s & ipod were a slow process ? welcome to pain
ps.F**K! why does bono have to be in at least one shot of EVERY new apple product.$50 to whomever wacks him.
Posted by: simon | October 12, 2005 at 11:20 PM
The Future as Seen by Nokia
http://www.mobile-weblog.com/50226711/the_future_as_seen_by_nokia.php
Nokia Concepts Lounge
http://www.designawards.nl/
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | October 12, 2005 at 11:26 PM
err thanks Dimitar, that was entirely useless
Posted by: simon | October 12, 2005 at 11:30 PM
It is a big deal.
Realize it's not the hardware alone that offers something evolutionary. It's the combination of both hardware and software (that is, the new itunes and the deal with Disney).
There are many other players out there who can and will offer portable video players, including cell phone manufacturers. However, unless you can somehow offer a content package to go along with the hardware, it's basically useless (other than home videos).
Posted by: Stan | October 13, 2005 at 01:19 AM
The ridiculously overblown idea that everyone wants an all-in-one gadget that is a phone, camera, camcorder, mp3 player, flash drive, GPS, coffeemaker, etc, is, in my opinion, silly. The draw of the ipod is that it does one thing very well: play music. No matter how "simple" these all in one products get, they'll still be too complicated to figure out and wil never work as well as they should. I have an ipod for music, an ipod nano for exercising, a blackberry for email, a small cheap motorola phone for calls, and they all do what they are supposed to do, and they do it well. And they all interface with my G5 Mac.
I'm less interested in the idea of video ipod, due to the practical fact that watching video on a 2.5" screen is fun for about 5 minutes. To me, what is more interesting is the new smaller size of the unit and the competitive pricing. The video feature is just an added extra that is likely two or three generations away from being truly useful.
Posted by: Matt | October 13, 2005 at 10:31 AM
ok. i know i'm not a vc (not by any stretch of the imagination), but what everyone seems to be missing is one crucial thing: videocasting. subscription based models, etc. man I have too many quality ideas which keep going to waste.
Posted by: brian breslin | October 13, 2005 at 12:00 PM
I think Brian nails it with that comment. The video Ipod is one of several tools that will allow for vidcasting in the future.
Posted by: Page | October 13, 2005 at 12:11 PM
I don't care, I don't have time to care. I hate anything with the 'pod' suffix. Sign me up for a PooPod.
Posted by: jackson | October 13, 2005 at 12:13 PM
I *heart* jackson
Posted by: simon | October 13, 2005 at 10:37 PM
the big problem so far has been that the entertainment business is too scared of M$, and that the entertainment side is wagging the hardware side at Sony.
ViPod sucks, except for the content, though the pricing on that sucks too. PMCs are much better in terms of hardware, though semi lame ergonomically, and the PSP is a better option as well, though crippled.
how to fix this? have ms buy time warner!
Posted by: hey | October 14, 2005 at 08:07 PM