And the next big thing for the iPod is...
So far this blog was used exclusively in order to make new release
announcements and since these were also emailed, I doubt anyone was
reading it. In an attempt to change that I am going to start sharing
our views and analysis of the market, where it is going and how it is
all related to TVersty. I am also going to allow comments to be posted
to the blog so that you can tell provide some feedback.
Right now I am in Vegas waiting for Bill Gates keynote at CES, and so
I finally have some time to do some blogging about ... Apple. Yes,
Apple the only company absent from CES, and yet the company that is
able to generate more buzz than the entire CES show and all its
exhibitors. I know I for one care about Apple plans for 2006 more than
I care about Microsoft and Intel's plans combined, simply because
Apple is the only company that has been able to demonstrate the real
meaning of convergence while others have been mainly talking about it
and spending lots of marketing dollars with no real progress. Speaking
of marketing, this CES is the beginning of a new marketing campaign
for Intel, the VIIV campaign which was announced a while ago but is
really starting only now (big billboards with VIIV and the new Intel
logo, Leap Ahead, instead of Intel inside, were welcoming everyone at
the airport at Las Vegas), I wonder if VIIV will catch on or not but
this probably deserves its own post, so let's get back to Apple.
It is well known that Apple is keeping its plans as a complete secret
until an actual announcement is made by Steve Jobs, and this time,
with Mac Expo just around the corner, is not going to be any
different. Since it won't be another week before Steve Jobs shares
with us his company plans, I find it too tempting not to join others
in the industry and use the time left till the show, to make some
predictions about Apple's plans for 2006. Now, I am a long-term guy so
I have no intention to try and guess what will Steve Jobs talk about
in this coming Mac Expo, however I am going to try and guess what he
has in store for the iPod in 2006 as a whole. If past experience is
any indication, there will be several press conferences this year in
which Apple reveals just another piece of the puzzle so when the
upcoming Steve Job's speech in Mac Expo will seem to have nothing to
do with what I am about to say, do not be too harsh with my
predictions, wait till the end of 2006 and then make up your mind.
Without further delay let me get to the point, up until a few months
ago when video support was added to the iPod, video was the hottest
feature expected by the pundits with almost everyone agreeing that it
is just matter of time till it's added. Now that it is a done deal and
the iPod can play video, it is time to come up with the next great
frontier for the iPod and if we can all agree then we can all go back
to speculating when it will be added instead of what it is. Of-course
unlike video support there is nothing obvious that everyone is talking
about and so I do not expect everyone to agree with my prediction and
yet I think I can at least convince you not to discount this
possibility and to give it serious thought. Clearly small improvements
such as a bigger screen, longer battery life, thinner form factor, and
a fresh design (cooler than ever), are all going to happen in 2006.
But what is the next BIG thing, something that will turn the iPod into
an even greater gadget, something so wonderful that it will make
Microsoft spend even more money trying to buy the entire industry in
an attempt to catch up with Apple.
And the Oscar goes to...wait a second I can't seem to be able to open
the envelope provided to me by the academy...ok, ok I know it's enough
going in circles so here it is, the Oscar goes to wireless networking.
Whether it is bluetooth, WiFi, wireless USB or all of the above, the
next big thing for the iPod in my opinion is to become a part of the
network, the home network, the Internet and the all encompassing
network of the entire universe - also known as the Ansible (oops this
one is not yet invented, I guess it will be announced in CES 3006).
Now that I spilled it out and it's out in the open, it is time to
defend my prediction. So, why on earth does the iPod need to join the
network? I mean isn't it supposed to get a 120 Gigabyte hard drive
this year and thus allow you to carry whatever you want, eliminating
the need to be connected (expect when synchronizing). Well, the huge
storage concept works great for audio but if you ask me it won't work
so well for video. You see, unlike many, I think that video like audio
will be very successful for the iPod and like audio most of the media
people store on their iPod won't come from the iTunes store but rather
will be things like recorded TV shows, DVDs, illegal downloads, etc.
And for recorded TV shows, which will probably be the most important
element in the success of the video functionality of the iPod, a
wireless connection is very important since it will allow
synchronization to happen automatically when the iPod is within range
of the home network. This "minor" improvement is very important since
newly recorded TV shows become available every day, where with music
one needed to synchronize their iPod only once in the beginning and
then when they bought a new CD or song (probably once a month for the
average Joe and once a week for the music enthusiasts).
Of-course seemless synchronization while important cannot justify by
itself adding WiFi support. The real great thing enabled by a wireless
network connection is the ability to stream music and video from the
home network or from the web, without needing to synchronize anything
and to incorporate this streamed content with the iTunes store such
that impulse contextual purchases can be made from the iPod without
going through a computer. I can for example, visualize recording a TV
show and while it is being recorded the show is also being streamed to
my iPod in some other part of the world where I am enjoying coffee in
some hotspot. With respect to music, I can visualize many new CD
quality commercial free radio stations that are made available for the
iPod for free simply because the iTunes store can now be accessed from
the iPod and so impulse purchases can be made as one listens to the
radio (yes Sirius and XM should be very worried since their business
model is under a serious threat). And if all that is not compelling
enough then what about all the video content available today freely on
the Internet, I am not talking about vlogs (which are already
integrated with the video iPod), I am talking about the networks and
the studios webcasting lots of great stuff on the Net. This stuff is
not downloadable so it can't be used with the current video iPod but
once the iPod is network enabled suddenly I can watch MTV or Bloomberg
TV live on it from any part of the world (which also remind me of a
prediction I read that satellite TV capability will be added to the
iPod, once the iPod is network enabled who needs satellite TV?). Now I
know you are going to say that the quality of this stuff is still not
adequate, well this is the beauty of it all, the quality is not good
enough for the big screen, but on the small iPod screen it will look
like hi-definition TV!
So where is TVersity in all that? TVersity from its very inception has
made it a goal to allow one to create her own personalized lineup of
channels and to access it from TVs and from mobile devices. Yet, we do
not support any mobile device yet, do we? The reason for that is the
inability of most of these devices to access the home network or the
Internet. Once this ability will be added, these devices just like
digital media adapters will not be able to handle many of the media
formats and of the streaming protocols out there and we intend to
solve that problem for these devices just like we did for networked
DVDs and DMAs. This will make our solution more complete as we will
all get one step closer to having universal access to our media. Here
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