From the day the iPod debut , there was little uncertainty the bantam music player would become a significant product for Apple . With its ability to play MP3 data file and sync up with the jukebox software on your Mac , the iPod immediately jump off to the top of the crowded field of handheld music players .
But the iPod turned out to be substantial in other — and more durable — ways as well . The equipment score Apple ’s clenched fist major whole tone into the kingdom of digital media beyond its standard software program and computer offering . Four years after the iPod ’s release , the company has only expanded its digital - media presence .
Indeed , thanks to the iPod , the iTunes Music Store , and other digital - medium efforts , Apple ’s range of a function as a company has undergo a dramatic shift to the point where the age - old question about Apple — is it a hardware companionship or a software system maker — has morphed into a new query . Is Apple a computing machine manufacturer or a media companionship ?
Consider Apple ’s most late circle of ware discharge . Thelatest iPodsplay back videos , include substance you’re able to buy off of Apple fromthe iTunes Music Store . Even Apple computer are becoming more media - centric — at the centerpiece of the late iMac is a newfangled program called Front Row that lets you control picture show , euphony , and slideshow playback . Once upon a clock time , Apple tout its computer as the center of a “ digital hub”—now , the fellowship has actuallyreleaseda computer with the expressed purpose of managing your digital - sensitive experiences . How long before that pervades the rest of Apple ’s product offerings ?
Age of the iPod
Before tackling that question , we should depend at the central purpose the iPod has played in influencing Apple ’s sword personal identity as well as its fiscal results . In its most late financial quarter , Apple reported a profit of $ 430 million on revenue of $ 3.68 billion — the highest revenue and earnings in the company ’s story . During that three - calendar month period , the company shipped 1.2 million mac — and nearly6.5 millioniPods . That ’s a 220 percentage startle in iPod shipments from the year - ago quarter , compare to a 48 percent increment in Macs .
And the iPod clientele should continue growing , analysts say . sooner this workweek , Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munsterforecast that Apple would send 37 million iPodsin 2005 , providing the company “ with a greater scope of awareness for various products . ” That ’ ’s the iPod anchor ring effect , a theory that the iPod ’s success will press sales agreement of other Apple products — let in Macs — upward .
If there was any lingering doubt about the importance of the iPod to Apple , the company remove it in mid-2004 when CEO Steve Jobs reconstitute the company to make two new section — iPod and Macintosh . freestanding team now manage the evolution of both product line .
‘ Still a computer caller ’
Despite that restructuring and the iPod ’s persona in advance Apple ’s fortune , analysts still see the Mac as an important part of the company ’s offerings .
“ At this point , the DoS of the online medium mart is unripe enough that they are still a physical trade good company and a company that is driven by groovy technology and integration , ” NPD psychoanalyst Ross Rubin says . “ They are still deriving the absolute majority of their tax income from the computer hardware . I do n’t think the subject is driving the hardware , yet . ”
“ Clearly , they are still a reckoner troupe , ” agrees Technology Business Research psychoanalyst Tim Deal . But that could change with continued growth from the iTunes Music Store — particularly if Apple come up to predominate on - need video recording sales the way it has music .
“ The Apple of the future will be more of a medium troupe , ” Deal says . “ The media will create demand for the computer hardware — it may not count as much on the revenue side , but it is becoming a big part of Apple ’s identity element . ”
That hereafter is still a slipway off , however . And while Apple ’s digital - media moves are grabbing headlines , the company is still make its presence felt in its more traditional stage business .
Take the declaration that Apple will dislodge to Intel - built processors for its laptops and desktops . Such a spectacular move — made because Apple considers Intel ’s offering more hopeful for the electronic computer it hopes to rescue — signals that Apple still places a premium on advanced ironware . The same could be said on the computer software front , where Apple rolled out a major acclivity to its operating organisation that contained several significant advance .
Still , Apple ’s moves in the digital - medium market bear watch , particularly in terms of how they ’ll affect ironware and software development .
“ There is a retentive future ahead for the Mac , ” Rubin says . “ I do n’t conceive Apple would switch to a newfangled processor core if they were n’t looking to impart the Mac beforehand for the foreseeable hereafter . ”
