Monday, May 9,2005 @ 8:35am
iPod clones, iTunes Video Store coming?
Industry pundit Robert Cringely says desite the success of the iPod, Apple's future is in the iTunes Music Store and perhaps an iTunes Video Store: "The Year of HD is dependent on 10.4 and its H.264 video codec that I believe will be at the heart of an Apple HD video download service to be announced shortly... Ultimately, what Apple wants to do is make its money through iTunes, where the profit margins are better in the long term and the system is easily scalable. It was necessary to create the iPod platform to make this happen. But downward price pressures will eventually hurt iPod profit margins and affect Apple's stock price, so the trick is to know when to switch the business from being a mix of hardware and software to one that is software-only. That switch, which I believe to be inevitable, will happen shortly after Apple begins to license iPod clones."