HV -
I'm with you.
IPods have become a force to be reckoned with. Other companies have tried to get somewhere offering digital music downloads, but none of them have gained any traction at all, because they weren't compatible with iPods. Amazon saw that they weren't going to sell much music unless they not only made it possible to play it on iPods, but made it simple (automatic, in fact) to add the music to iTunes.
Another side benefit for Apple, as you mention, is that monopoly accusations will no longer stand up. The EU can go back to hounding Microsoft.
On a related note, I have recently had occasion to stay in two different hotels. One was the Tribeca Grand in New York City, and the other was the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California. Both rooms had iPod-compatible music systems. I just docked the iPod and played my own tunes. In the case of the Tribeca Grand, the hotel offered loaner iPods, stocked with tunes, for guests who didn't have one with them.
I'm sure that this has become common, if not almost a requirement, in upscale hotels. And it is clear evidence of the ubiquity and overwhelming market acceptance of the iPod. It's practically an institution at this point.
As the current lineup of iPods shows, Apple continues to leave the competition in the dust. No matter how successful Amazon is, people are going to keep buying iPods.
- Allen |
