This is interesting. HP and Apple are joining forces to create an HP-branded digital music player based on Apple’s iPod™. The device will be due out this summer. I had mixed reactions upon first seeing the news. My immediate thoughts went back to the Mac clones of 7 or 8 years ago. But I’m assuming Apple and Jobs know what they’re doing by OEMing the device for another brand powerhouse.
It certainly seems this could continue the increase in exposure of Apple’s hardware and software. According to the release:
As part of the alliance, HP consumer PCs and notebooks will come preinstalled with Apple’s iTunes® jukebox software and an easy-reference desktop icon to point consumers directly to the iTunes Music Store, ensuring a simple, seamless music experience.
If nothing else, it’s an interesting experiment while Apple is enjoying the market leader position in the digital music player space. Will Apple benefit in the long run? Who knows? But it’s a brave step either way.
Posted in Apple, Technology
24 comments (Comments closed)
Wow, I bet Microsoft hates this.
With HP using iPod technology, obviously the songs to be put on the music device will not be in the WMA format, and therefore, will upset Redmondites bigtime.
I look forward to see how Microsoft’s partnerships with HP drop in the very near future.
I think this is a smart move on HP’s part. It could be a decision to reduce the R&D cost on their already bloated product lines. This way they can partner with a company behind an industry leading product already dominating the market that’s not only a proven sales add-on, but also able to increase sales without having to develop anything for it since iTunes already exist for Windows. As for Apple, HP is probably as good a partner they could hope to get to widen their exposure in the PC market and seriously compete with other MP3 manufacturers in that sector. It will benefit both parties and I’m sure the Wall St. will nod their heads as well.
Interesting, I wonder how “competitive” the price of the new music players is going to be. This gives an opportunity for consumers to get their hands on some $100-$200 iPods.
I guess I am relating this relationship to the kind that some automotive companies have. Sure you can buy a Nissan Z-350, but for a bit more you can get the “luxury” Infinity version. Maybe this is why they priced the mini’s so high.
Funny, I had the same reaction ;-). But in this case, it seems that Apple will manufacture the “HPods” for HP, so it’s a bit different than the former Mac clones business.
This is a smart move on HPs part to allow them to compete with Dell’s mp3 player without having to do the R&D and product development, and also allows them to rely on the iPod brand.
I assume they will start packaging their PCs with the iPod the same way you can add an iPod to your Mac when you order it from apple.
The interesting thing is not so much that announcement thought…. I think LightScribe is much more interesting news coming out of HP than the announcement of a deal with Apple.
Four words: Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra
Doesn’t seem like the controls on that Nomad would be easy to use. I can use my iPod with one hand easily. It will also support up to 320kb/s encoded mp3s instead of just 128.
Also says you have to use a NOMAD Explorer to copy files to and from it on Windows machines. My iPod acts as a removable drive, so i can just copy to it like copying to a zip disk.
Does the nomad hold contacts, calendars, notes, and voice memos?
But to each his own.
I will stick with my iPod.
I always thought Apple used iTunes to sell iPods, but this deal seems like it was made entirely to promote iTunes… how odd…
iRiver IHP-120 owns you all!
*cough* check the ‘i’s in the name of the product mentioned in the post above :P
This will load all of this on 20 percent of the computers sold:
Quicktime
iTunes
iTunes Music Service
Seems like a damn good deal for apple. This will stop MS from taking over with WMA and Windows Media Player, at least for the time being.
Will also bring more bargaining power for Apple with the record companies.
This is all assuming that the agreement is to preload iTunes and associated software on all new Compaq and HP computers. I would assume so. Why not? It’s damn good software.
There’s an article on slashdot.
“Does the nomad hold contacts, calendars, notes, and voice memos?”
Umm no… my Nomad plays music, like it’s supposed to.
I don’t give a rats a$$ about storing contacts, calendars, notes, voice memos, or porn on my Nomad.
It works perfectly fine, it holds a ton of songs, and it sounds good.
Oh, and it costed alot less then the iPOD. So i’m happy.
“I will stick with my iPod.”
And I will stick with my Nomad.
I think, this is a very smart move on Apple’s side. This will strenghten the position of Apple’s music format in a market of growing competition.
Since the product won’t marketed under the name iPod, and will have a different color, I think it won’t take away too many customers from Apple’s iPod, but it will take away a big market share of Dell’s, … mp3 players.
I notice that everyone is praising this deal as a great way for Apple to make more money. From an immediate-income-source perspective, I agree.
But what about the run-on effects the iPod brought to Apple?
I work for an Apple reseller, and about 30 per cent of our iPod customers who use Windows have returned within 12 months to buy a Mac. THIRTY per cent! That’s a huge number of sales that might be lost to HP because those people who bought the ‘HPod’ never had the opportunity to see and/or experience a Mac.
In addition to that, the AppleStores and resellers will lose some Windows iPod sales because now they will no longer be the only place to buy iPods.
(I admit that in Australia you can only buy iPods from Apple resellers. This might be different in the US or elsewhere)
Perhaps Apple are giving away more than they can afford?
What a move by Apple, Microsoft must be thinking something else about this, I see apple at a good position for next 2 years and this handshake will definately help Apple to sustain the poisition.
I would be very surprised if the price is very different from Apple’s one. In fact I can only see one situation that would allow that: you get a rebate when buying an HP computer and an HP-iPod.
Steve already told us (Time magasine) that the secret to making money with the ITMS was the iPod, they will not endanger this.
The only differences between the two are : the color and the engraved logo. Indeed the factory price will be the same, Apple will make money on each HP-iPod and HP will also wan’t some. Adding one step never cut the prices down.
Apple as only one interest in this action: getting iTunes on every HP machine and thereby QuickTime!
What Apple should really do is use this partnership with HP and the subsequent inlcusion of iTunes for windows as a stepping stone to release OSX for x86 chips, which I have read is in development, but for what reason I don’t know. I would love to own a Mac, but I’m broke so I would really like to buy OSX for my PC. They would sell a ton of these I think. Just a thought.
Hey Choke —- here in the US the iPods are available just about everywhere. BestBuy, Circuit City, CompUSA, and more importantly Apple via it’s website. Pretty much any major electronics superstore carries them, smaller Apple resellers aren’t that huge over here.
Exactly what I thought about the deal…OSX on X86. Why not get in with one of the biggest PC companies and form a partnership that down the line may result in OSX being on Hp PC’s. Just seems like there is more to this than meets the eye….tiem will tell!
It’s been said before, but Apple + x86 is highly unlikely.
Two things that I need on road: a smartphone and a mp3 player. Why separated? So I still wait for a mobile smartphone with 2-4GB memory to play music. A SonyEricsson P900-like with built-in 1” hard disk.
Is it just me, or can anyone else see HP swapping one of those swanky PDAs with Apple in the near future. Apple is l-o-n-g over due for a handheld device. If they can get HP up and running with a top notch MP3 rig, can’t there be some reciprocity? Just think, an iPaq with a 40GB HD. At any rate, would someone please tell Apple to hurry up with a full-fledge PDA.
I carry both my iPod and my phone with me almost all the time, but I don’t want them to be the same device. Listening to my personal music player creates privacy. My phone disrupts it, so I want the option of turning off phone or leaving it behind.
However, I wonder if adding additional PDA functionality to an iPod device would allow Apple to get back into that market while keeping all those unfortunate Newton associations at bay.
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