Peeve Farm

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Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

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Wednesday, October 30, 2002

13:30 - Well, there's a "Switch" for ya...
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-963901.html?tag=fd_top

(top)

Remember when the iPod was first introduced-- how many people said it would never sell?

Then, when it sold really really really well (to Mac users and to on-the-edge Wintel users who were swayed via the iPod toward buying a Mac, or who were willing to put up with third-party software), some people said they still didn't consider it worthwhile unless there was a native Windows version?

Then, when Apple brought out a native Windows version, (a few) people still said it wouldn't sell purely because of the Apple name?

Well, apparently those voices are being drowned out by a clamor from Dell customers who want to by iPods with their Dell boxes, instead of the Archos and Creative MP3 players that Dell already carries.

So Dell is now going to be featuring the iPod on its own online storefront.

"Yep, Dell is reselling iPods," Apple said in a statement provided to CNET News.com. "We are delighted to offer our 5GB, 10GB and 20GB iPods for Windows through Dell's direct retail channel. iPod has been a big success to date, and we would like to make it even bigger."

Apparently the draw of Dell's online store for Apple and the lure of the iPod for Dell were enough to convince the bitter rivals to set aside their differences. The two companies compete especially hard in the education market, where Dell has moved ahead of the Mac maker to become the largest seller of computer gear to schools.

That's exactly what Apple needs. Whoever at Apple had the idea to do a killer-app-of-MP3-players, something that would outshine every competitor in every regard and become universally desirable to the entire spectrum of technology users, deserves some kind of medal. The iPod will make Apple a huge pile of money in the long run-- but more important still is the credibility boost that it gives the Apple logo.

One of the biggest problems Apple faces is in selling products to people who may have tried a Mac once, like back in the System 6 days or something (or perhaps an old Mac IIsi puttering in a friend's back room, while Pentium IIs were churning happily away in the front), and come away from the experience with a bad impression of Apple's engineering. "It was so slow," people commonly say. "And I couldn't figure out how to do anything-- there was no Start menu. What was I supposed to click on?" Over and over I've heard this story-- an unsupervised session with an ancient Mac led to a bad first impression, one that stuck with the person forever, cemented by the familiarity with which he returned to Windows.

But if Apple can slip a little something into everybody's pocket-- a piece of genuinely good technology that nobody can find immediate fault with, that works really well and instantly demonstrates its usefulness and value... they've won an immense hearts-and-minds victory. A spin of the dial will attenuate to nothing the endless chorus of sneers: "All Apple products are crap!" and "Macs are little candy-colored toy computers with tiny screens!" and "Macs can't be networked!" and "Can Macs do color yet?" Instead, people will associate the name Apple with good, useful products, and maybe-- just maybe-- be willing to try a modern Mac and see what the experience of using iTunes or making movies or working without a Registry or filename extensions can be like.

"We don't consider Apple a competitor across the full range of products," said Dell spokeswoman Mary Fad. "Maybe it would be odd if we had iMacs on the store (Web site)."

I must say, this does improve my opinion of Dell significantly.