The Theological Ruminator
i think gates is just pulling PR stuff. he's getting his butt kicked by google and apple (in product...not necessarily numbers - see below), so he's feeling the pressure. apple's are by far better - the reason that pc's might be more popular are because the majority is simply commonplace by definition - ordinary...they are what get a "C" in academia - Apple earns an "A".
In 25 years, there'll be a 152' statue of Steve Jobs in Redmond and Gates will be relegated to a footnote in history. That's my opinion, at least. And I'm never wrong. 
When you get people like Gates (CEOs, Chairmen of Board, President, etc), it's hard not to think comments like this aren't just a bunch of PR noise.
My phone plays mp3s. It also is a PDA. It's a pain to use though. It doesn't do the phone thing as well as a regular cell phone does. It doesn't do the pda thing quite as well as a dedicated pda does. And it sure as heck doesn't do the music thing as well as an ipod does. I stick to my ipod for the music. And i put up with the phone/pda thing because I'm a geek. Average ipod user: not a geek.
I thought an iPod was a place frogs go for personal time.
I don't know what all those other initials mean.
Well, I certainly ruffled some feathers... And then there's Roy's comment. ??
I totally agree that Mac is tearing it up right now and doing a great job at what they are producing. Great products that look great. Maybe Chris' prophecy will prove accurate.
But I'm not talking about Mac as a whole right here... I'm specifically questioning whether the iPod can continue to hold market dominance. My thought is "maybe" but it will have to evolve fairly soon or it will seriously lose dominance. Like Brian says, the iPod does music very well right now and other apps like cell phones simply don't.
However, the day will come, and soon I think, when technology and innovation will catch up with the iPod and one or more manufacturers will put together a synthesized machine that does multiple applications well. Gates has plenty of good $$ reasons to say what he says, but I think he could possibly be right here.
I dunno. iPod fans are fairly dedicated to their devices.
When was the last time you saw someone walking around dressed as a Windows CD or XBox?
Funny! And a good point, but I still think that's just an illustration of the iPod's current popularity. Not their enduring popularity.
OOOOOHHHH! The frog thing is an iPAD!
John Mark, you're not really making much of a point. You're basically saying "Well, things eventually will change..."
If I told you "hey, Windows wont be the most dominant OS forever. Especially if they stop developing it right now and never change it at all." would you consider that a particularly clever ore foresightful statement?
I just pointed out why the iPod is popular and how far other devices would have to come if they were to be able to catch up. I'm not saying it's impossible. And I'd also point out that the ipod has evolved since the 4 years ago or so that it came out. I'd be surprised if it stopped evolving now. Look at the iPod Shuffle. It's been out less than 4 months and commands nearly 60% of the flash-based mp3 player market. Link.
Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely Saturday.
Brian, the point I'm making is not that I'm just saying things will one day change (like maybe in 20-30 years). I'm saying in 2-3 years I expect the various mobile technologies to merge effectively and that will be either with or without Apple. Apple is going to have to either start merging the iPod with apps like handhelds and mobile phones or lose market share in the 3-5 year upcoming period.
But I agree with you entirely that Apple has a great lock on the market today. They clearly have the superior product and have done an excellent job packaging and marketing it. So, I'm saying I agree with Gates that merging technologies is the future. Apple can be a part of that but they will have to continue to evolve like you say they are doing now.
As a clarification: My point truly is a simple point as Brian mentions but I think it's an important point b/c it's extremely hard for companies to fundamentally transform their products successfully as times change, but changing times sometimes require major changes (see Xerox and Kodak for examples of such struggles). Obviously Apple has done well at changing in the past, I just suspect they won't be willing to risk merging the iPod with other products. The risky and difficult thing is to change what they have and try to anticipate merged technology at the right time (which is why I wonder if they will) or they can stick with the good thing they have (and I think eventually become displaced by better integrated products).
In January, Steve Jobs announced that Apple had partnered with Motorola and that there was going to be an itunes-enabled phone in the near future. It totally slipped my mind till now.
That's interesting. If anyone is sharp enough to see the market and move with it, Jobs certainly seems to be the guy. I wonder if they'll be willing to go beyond itunes in the next 2-3 years? I could be wrong, but I think the key technology will be being able to store huge amounts of data (1 gb or more) apart from the hard drive medium to make it more durable at a competitive pricing. When that happens, music is going to move into other apps more effectively because people can store all or at least a bunch of their music, pix, etc. in one location while only carrying one product with them.
Commenting by HaloScan
