The Mysterious Blue hPod

I'm currently posting this from the living room. My laptop and stereo are still strategically placed in corner after a party we had at our apartment on Friday night. I slept 13 hours on Saturday afterwards, and still don't really feel the necessity to move it back into my room, so oh well.

Unless you don't frequent Blogdex, you probably wouldn't have heard about their #1 most blogged about story the past few days, the new Hewlett-Packard—branded iPod, known more affectionately as "the hPod".

Apple and HP were rumored to be in a long-winded meeting that stretched far into Wednesday night, discussing HP's plans to have a corporate branded iPod made for them by Apple. It was officially announced after that meeting that Apple will indeed be making HP blue colored iPods (no Apple logos on the device) to be sold in retail stores and on the HP site. Also, HP will start putting iTunes 4 (music software WITH the integrated music store) on all the desktop of all of their computers effective ASAP.

Its interesting to note that with all the varying opinions on weblogs and news sites, no one seems to think this is a bad idea other than Microsoft. To paraphrase their reaction: "it doesn't support WMA files, and that will confuse Windows users". Confuse them how? Confuse them in the way that other portable music devices don't even support mp3 files? Doesn't sound confusing to me. Especially since the number one way to legally download music files online (the iTunes Music Store) works with the number one portable music player (the iPod), and will now work with an HP-branded music device. In my opinion, more people will get the chance to use the fantastic piece of software that is iTunes, and, will therefore, understand and appreciate the Apple design aesthetic much more than before. Will that make them run out and buy an iMac? I hope so. And I'm pretty sure that Steve Jobs is hoping that too.

Unrelated: Matt is running a design contest for his site.... super cool!

Comments

[Aleksandar Vacić]

Am I the only to notice that people stopped talking about the iPod mini disappointments and talks about this?

Looks like a good Apple timing.

[Peter]

Carly Fiorina showed the HP Digital Music Player in all its' blue-grey ugliness on Thursday. Obviously HP and Apple had been in discussions for a while. How else would she have had a mock-up so quickly? As for the "disappointment" with the iPod mini. Let's go back 2 years. Apple introduces a 5 GB music player at the ridiculously high price of $399. "Won't sell" were most analyst comments. Even Apple devotees were disappointed. 2 years later with prices down to $299 for a 15 GB model the iPod passes the 2 million mark in sales. Huh? Now we have an "overpriced" iPod mini with 4 GB and a price of $249. Look into your crystal ball. It's 2 years since the intro. The new iPod is now available with 15 GB for $99. 4 million have been sold. Huh?

[Mike]

Aleck: I think this was perfect timing. I'm sure that Steve Jobs saw that some people wouldn't appreciate the new Mini's price, therefore he exacted this company agreement in anticipation.

Peter: Well put. I'm still disappointed about the iPod Mini's price, but I believe it will sell just as the original iPod did a few years back. As long as Apple innovates, consumers will flock to them for design and UI perfection — no matter what the price.

Also, there's no doubt in my mind the iPod Mini's $249 price tag will drop to $199 within 8-12 months; maybe even lower. But who knows. When the 100 Million Song Pepsi/iTunes promotion hits full swing, maybe iPod sales will be at a point where Apple will no longer feel as though they have to drop the price.

[SmurfTower]

Any color you like and sand off the HP logo on the back you're chillen :D. These people are going to make a fortune on coloring iPods.
http://www.colorwarepc.com/products/accessories.aspx

[Nicole]

Mike, why do you do this to me? I am highly tempted to join the redesign mayhem. I may need to recruit a graphic designer friend to my team, however, as I can never make graphics look like I want them to... I think we've discussed our mutual tendency toward perfectionism. :)

[Mike]

Hehe ;)

Yeah, throwing a redesign together is going to be abnormally-tough for me — I've got midterms this week, a job interview, other sites to work on, blah blah blah... so I'm going to be under some pressure lol. Hopefully I'll still be able to throw something together!

[Nicole]

Somehow I really doubt that your entry will be "thrown together."

And on another note, does your school have trimesters? Because it seems pretty early for midterms otherwise.

[Mike]

We sure do. Right now I'm in the middle of my winter quarter, very much envying all my friends who are still on their Christmas vacation ;)

[KenC]

I believe Apple had a mockup done well before CES, as I'm sure when they approached HP, they brought a mockup along. Standard practice, if you ask me. The only thing, is HP's colors are fugly! Probably what held up the talks so long was Steve wanting to change HP's corporate colors to something more appealing than dull gray and dull blue.

As for the timing, I doubt Steve planned it that way, it just worked out that way. I'm sure he would have announced it, if the deal had been done in time for the MWSFshow.

As for the mini pricing, I think Steve could have easily hit the $200 price point if he had gone with 2Gig of microdrive storage, but that's not Steve. His whole schtick has been to have your WHOLE music library on your iPod, and that means, in Steve's mind, somewhere near 5Gig minimum as that was what the original iPod had. So, 4Gig was close enough, but 2Gig not. Right now, Microdrives are expensive, and flash memory even more expensive. I looked at 1Gig flash memory the other day and it was over $300! So, if people had only done their homework, they would have realized that a mini iPod would be small in size but not in price, because miniaturization in electronics is not cheaper.

[Mike]

I just can't believe that anyone thought that Apple would come out with a Flash-based iPod. Flash storage prices are incredibly high, and there would be absolutely no benefit to sticking Flash media into an iPod music device — the cost of production would be way too high.

[Zack]

5 gig for 1000 mp3s and 4 gig for 1000 AACs :)

[Derek]

I think what Apple is doing in terms of the iPod is great. And in terms of the iPod Mini, it has been said that there is a 6 GB drive available (not sure of the manufacturer) that would fit the iPod Mini which could become the standard, rather than the 4 GB. Also it would likely be difficult and not worth the cost to produce two versions of each color. I love the more streamlined design of the 4G iPod, but must agree, when it comes to the HP mock-up, that the color is disgusting. I believe (in an attempt to appeal more to consumers)... that Apple and HP will likely use a darker shade of blue (a lightning or midnight blue like color). If you visit the hp.com site... the color associated with their icon doesn't really resemble the above mock-up. But we will all know tomorrow when it is unveiled. Also, I was very interested in the website posted above for colored iPods... I would be interested to know if they have a professional appearance or a more homemade look to them... and since they don't ship directly from Apple if they would arrive in good condition, etc. But very interesting... great idea to offer that sort of options for the 4G iPod. Well that's my 2 cents... so i'm out!

[Derek]

I think what Apple is doing in terms of the iPod is great. And in terms of the iPod Mini, it has been said that there is a 6 GB drive available (not sure of the manufacturer) that would fit the iPod Mini which could become the standard, rather than the 4 GB. Also it would likely be difficult and not worth the cost to produce two versions of each color. I love the more streamlined design of the 4G iPod, but must agree, when it comes to the HP mock-up, that the color is disgusting. I believe (in an attempt to appeal more to consumers)... that Apple and HP will likely use a darker shade of blue (a lightning or midnight blue like color). If you visit the hp.com site... the color associated with their icon doesn't really resemble the above mock-up. But we will all know tomorrow when it is unveiled. Also, I was very interested in the website posted above for colored iPods... I would be interested to know if they have a professional appearance or a more homemade look to them... and since they don't ship directly from Apple if they would arrive in good condition, etc. But very interesting... great idea to offer that sort of options for the 4G iPod. Well that's my 2 cents... so i'm out!

[Derek]

I think what Apple is doing in terms of the iPod is great. And in terms of the iPod Mini, it has been said that there is a 6 GB drive available (not sure of the manufacturer) that would fit the iPod Mini which could become the standard, rather than the 4 GB. Also it would likely be difficult and not worth the cost to produce two versions of each color. I love the more streamlined design of the 4G iPod, but must agree, when it comes to the HP mock-up, that the color is disgusting. I believe (in an attempt to appeal more to consumers)... that Apple and HP will likely use a darker shade of blue (a lightning or midnight blue like color). If you visit the hp.com site... the color associated with their icon doesn't really resemble the above mock-up. But we will all know tomorrow when it is unveiled. Also, I was very interested in the website posted above for colored iPods... I would be interested to know if they have a professional appearance or a more homemade look to them... and since they don't ship directly from Apple if they would arrive in good condition, etc. But very interesting... great idea to offer that sort of options for the 4G iPod. Well that's my 2 cents... so i'm out!

[Derek]

I think what Apple is doing in terms of the iPod is great. And in terms of the iPod Mini, it has been said that there is a 6 GB drive available (not sure of the manufacturer) that would fit the iPod Mini which could become the standard, rather than the 4 GB. Also it would likely be difficult and not worth the cost to produce two versions of each color. I love the more streamlined design of the 4G iPod, but must agree, when it comes to the HP mock-up, that the color is disgusting. I believe (in an attempt to appeal more to consumers)... that Apple and HP will likely use a darker shade of blue (a lightning or midnight blue like color). If you visit the hp.com site... the color associated with their icon doesn't really resemble the above mock-up. But we will all know tomorrow when it is unveiled. Also, I was very interested in the website posted above for colored iPods... I would be interested to know if they have a professional appearance or a more homemade look to them... and since they don't ship directly from Apple if they would arrive in good condition, etc. But very interesting... great idea to offer that sort of options for the 4G iPod. Well that's my 2 cents... so i'm out!

[Derek]

Oops, not sure how i posted more than once... Sorry!

[jason]

think i'll join the band wagon and collaborate with apple too. hmmmm let me see now. i'll call it the jPod and color it puce and stamp my own elaborate logo on the back. hell, i'll throw in a free pair of the worst quality headphones also in a matching shade of puce. and with jTunes loaded onto my brand of jPCs, it's sure to be a winner.

what comes around goes around, the original white iPod from apple will remain the benchmark for quite some time yet. look at HP, all they could do was to side with apple. bring it on.