More on Real

Since Apple invented the market for personal computer, it has outlasted several hundred PC makers (if not thousands) and has competed against Sony, Toshiba, IBM, Tandy, Zenith, Packard Bell, Gateway, HP, Commodore, Compaq, NCR, AT&T, Microsoft, Intel, and AMD. That's several trillion dollars worth of competition - how do you survive such a battle - by being the best and the innovator. An innovator doesn't have to invent everything but has to know how to apply new technologies. Other than DB technology, every desktop technology and software innovation started on the Mac from the obvious ones to semi forgotten ones like networked games and the first graphical web browser. Market share means nothing when 90% of the PC's are either bought to use as terminals or by people who can't afford more than $500 for a computer. Someday Apple may face real competition with an Mp3 player but only Apple designed the ipod for consumers. Sony's first objective is to make sure their ATRA DRM is not breakable. Microsoft's first objective is to design a DRM that they can license to as many people and to sell Windows encoding machines. Real? Their whole company is built upon selling streaming/encoding software and DRAM. To Sony, consumers are second - to MS & Real, consumers stand fourth behind market share, selling equipment, getting lawyers to sign off at content companies and finally - consumers. ipod is not the first Mp3 player - it just seems that way. Consumers who have an income has choosen. What mp3 player can play 7 formats? What Mp3 lets me buy downloaded music tracks that I can easily convert to Mp3 or AIFF and that plays like a Mp3? Because Sony, REal & MS makes the consumer climb 2-5 walls before reaching the music - their choices are doomed. Sony & MS have plenty of income to overcome this or to give up and move on. Real has nothing else. They are dialup technology in a world of broadband, wifi and Ethernet+ - Real is dead.

But the Steve Jobs Quote is the best part of this... "The iPod already works with the No. 1 music service in the world, and the iTunes Music Store works with the No. 1 digital-music player in the world. The No. 2s are so far behind already. Why would we want to work with No. 2?" [from slashdot - supposedly from the WSJ but I can't find it...]

come on, john--real player is the most god awful media player on the market, and real networks is one desperate corporation going as far as to sue espn for not broadcasting their streams in real. real doesn't even support the mac platform very well. and most mac lovers are self-centered? that's an awesome and enlightened statement. you must be a windows user.

I'm not advocating that Apple never partner with another company, I'm just saying Real has never had a product worth anything, so it's no surprise they aren't being welcomed with open arms.

Just you remember the same position that Jobs took in the past, way back when the Mac was introduced as a completely closed box (I was there in my campus with one of the 1st ones). Look who has 98% personal computer market share. I bet you that it will happen again 'cause Jobs is a very self centered person, which I would say most Mac lovers are. M$ or someone else will just come along with a better and cheaper version and take the market away from Apple again.