Toolkit

Story: HP to resell blue iPod

Posted by: Eytan Bernet (Friday 9 January 2004, 6:48 PM)

They should pay ME to be a pundit. I cannot see why NO ONE has commented on this yet...

Every copy of iTunes installs QuickTime on Windows. It cannot do without it...

THIS is what Apple gain. Not just legitimacy for AAC, MPEG4, FairPlay (their DRM technology) but an installed base of QuickTime on all shipping Compaq and HP machine. Apple had a similar deal with Compaq years ago (to ship QT on all Compaqs) but MSFT monopolistic behavior (at the time - they cannot do it now) scuttled that deal.

Mark my words - this is BIG - for this one reason, not the iTunes Music store, nor the iPod, but legitimacy to Apple's more open standards approach to Media - an OPEN MPEG4 (unlike MSFTs CLOSED MPEG4 in WM9) and OPEN AAC (not like MSFTs closed WMA) etc. This will allow HP to base new Media Center technologies that THEY develop around these OPEN standards rather than the closed (and royalty paying) WM9 standards.

Can anyone jump in and comment about this as well?

Eytan