via nytimes
First there is the purchase of music streamer Lala, now comes news that Apple may consider offering iTunes users the chance to subscribe for a month of major network programming for $30. ("That's only a dollar a day...less than a cup of coffee."...yeah right!)This could virtually take the place of a home cable subscription.
Apple has proposed to the broadcast networks the idea of making their programming available to be viewed on their devices, but so far, only ABC and CBS are interested.
What are the implications of this?
It's too early to tell, but, it's clear that streamed content and Apple are going to make their marriage work whether we like it or not. Let's only hope Apple doesn't make the same mistakes companies like Wang, Xerox and IBM made in the previous decades... going from "first to worst" by not foreseeing the direction technology was taking versus where it had been.
I do see the possibilities of using Lala's streaming technology. Having all of your music and data accessible from anywhere at anytime without degradation in quality, that's a cool thing. The problem is, once you've got a million accounts on the cloud and all of this content being swapped, who's going to take the blame when user information or unique files are made public?
The opportunity for problems to arise are there and when I think of how slow Apple is to respond to software and equipment malfunctions, let's just say I'm less than confident in them.
The online TV thing sounds like a race to beat VEVO. Apple had a hard enough time getting people interested in Apple TV(and the consumer already owned all the other Apple stuff - not a good look) now we're supposed to wait until they figure out how to get us from in front of the computer and onto the couch?
Also, will the networks let Apple undercut their ability to sell advertisements? I'm not paying all of that money for a show to sit through commercials!
Let's see what the word is by the Summer.
Sunday, November 13, 2011 
