Apple to fight piracy by competing
updated 06:00 pm EDT, Tue July 29, 2003
The way to go after illegal file sharing services is to , says Peter Lowe, Apple's Director of Marketing for Applications and Services. This can be done by offering quality and speed that is greater than that of file-swapping services, Lowe says. In the view of Apple, people use these services because they are quick, not because they are free. Lowe also stated that "we fundamentally believe subscriptions are the wrong path," because "that's not what consumers are doing offline [when they buy music]."



Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2001
Partly right
Apple is right that quick, accurate and easy is worth a small amount of $$ over free but difficult.
But "quick" does not necessarily trump "free" all the time, particularly if you are a teenager with loads of free time. I mean, people are spending HOURS upon HOURS ripping, transcoding, uploading or downloading mainstream movies they could buy at OmniBlobCorp for $10-15. This makes NO SENSE -- unless you make less than $5/hour.
I think Apple's strategy will work well with people who have any level of discretionary income, some ethics, and taste.
But that still leaves about 50% of America unaccounted for. :)