The rumor mill these days is churning strongly with the possibility Apple might eventually unveil a portable video player, or PVP, which would perhaps be modeled along the highly successful iPod and be capable of going head to head with Microsoft?s similar upcoming product line. How real are the whisperings, however?
Noted New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue got a chance with a colleague in early January to sit and have a chat with Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Among the topics was Apple?s possible foray into the PVP market.
Jobs, according to Pogue, gave three reasons why he did not see this type of product ever having much market penetration. These reasons included the lack of a quality video display to capture the feeling one gets when watching a video at home or in the theatre, a perception this market will never take off because of the already large number of distribution channels for video, like DVDs and pay-per-view and, finally, the clear and simple fact that people?s consumption patterns for music and video are different, meaning someone who rips tons of CDs and loads gigabytes worth of music onto their iPod might not have the same desire to perform those functions with video as they are less likely to view the same episode of Jerry Springer over and over again.
Jobs also added it takes a long time to load videos onto PVPs, meaning people would probably get impatient with having to wait.
Still, even with Jobs saying the portable video player market might not be successful, does this mean Apple isn?t cooking up something in their Cupertino, California headquarters?
?Now, I?m not saying we?re not working on something like that,? Jobs told Pogue. ?Who knows what we?ve got in our labs??
This open ended question has since left the Internet community abuzz with speculation about what Apple might be dreaming up. Chatter on Mac websites like MacRumors has produced a mixture of fact and fiction and pros and cons on what Apple could gain by entering this space.
One poster on MacRumors, for example, said in early March he had seen jobs posted for the iPod development team seeking those who had video compression experience. A search on Apple?s site turned up no such listings, however.
More recently, the administrator at MacRumors noted Apple announced plans to attend the National Association of Broadcasters conference in April. On a media invitation, Apple had written about moving pictures and sound and a special presentation at the conference ?to see the latest Apple technology.?
This set off a lengthy thread discussion about what exactly might be unveiled, with speculation running the gamut from some type of video editing tool to, of course, a PVP.
Personal technology reporters, who usually have a good ear to the ground, seem to think an Apple PVP would be a good idea, but aren?t necessarily holding their breath.
?I?ve heard that rumor too,? said MacWorld associate senior editor Jonathan Seff. ?I think it would be great. What Apple did with the iPod was make a very, simple interface for a player. If they could do something like that with a video player it would be incredible.?
I agree [with Jobs],? said Pogue in a phone interview. ?It will never be what the music player market is. There is a huge difference between audio and video. Video requires your entire concentration. People multitask with music while on the go. Almost by definition, it is an infinitely smaller market.?
?I would guess they are not going to bring one out from his reaction,? added Pogue. ?It doesn?t really sound promising to me. They?ll probably wait and see how much enthusiasm Microsoft?s product gets for making a decision.?
Even if Apple were to release a PVP, would it really do all that well for the company?s bottom line? As Jobs already had pointed out, there are a number of reasons why the market, despite the successes of smaller players like Creative and Archos, will never be more than a niche.
Apple would not comment on this story given their policy of not talking about future products, real or speculative.
Noted New York Times personal technology columnist David Pogue got a chance with a colleague in early January to sit and have a chat with Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Among the topics was Apple?s possible foray into the PVP market.
Jobs, according to Pogue, gave three reasons why he did not see this type of product ever having much market penetration. These reasons included the lack of a quality video display to capture the feeling one gets when watching a video at home or in the theatre, a perception this market will never take off because of the already large number of distribution channels for video, like DVDs and pay-per-view and, finally, the clear and simple fact that people?s consumption patterns for music and video are different, meaning someone who rips tons of CDs and loads gigabytes worth of music onto their iPod might not have the same desire to perform those functions with video as they are less likely to view the same episode of Jerry Springer over and over again.
Jobs also added it takes a long time to load videos onto PVPs, meaning people would probably get impatient with having to wait.
Still, even with Jobs saying the portable video player market might not be successful, does this mean Apple isn?t cooking up something in their Cupertino, California headquarters?
?Now, I?m not saying we?re not working on something like that,? Jobs told Pogue. ?Who knows what we?ve got in our labs??
This open ended question has since left the Internet community abuzz with speculation about what Apple might be dreaming up. Chatter on Mac websites like MacRumors has produced a mixture of fact and fiction and pros and cons on what Apple could gain by entering this space.
One poster on MacRumors, for example, said in early March he had seen jobs posted for the iPod development team seeking those who had video compression experience. A search on Apple?s site turned up no such listings, however.
More recently, the administrator at MacRumors noted Apple announced plans to attend the National Association of Broadcasters conference in April. On a media invitation, Apple had written about moving pictures and sound and a special presentation at the conference ?to see the latest Apple technology.?
This set off a lengthy thread discussion about what exactly might be unveiled, with speculation running the gamut from some type of video editing tool to, of course, a PVP.
Personal technology reporters, who usually have a good ear to the ground, seem to think an Apple PVP would be a good idea, but aren?t necessarily holding their breath.
?I?ve heard that rumor too,? said MacWorld associate senior editor Jonathan Seff. ?I think it would be great. What Apple did with the iPod was make a very, simple interface for a player. If they could do something like that with a video player it would be incredible.?
I agree [with Jobs],? said Pogue in a phone interview. ?It will never be what the music player market is. There is a huge difference between audio and video. Video requires your entire concentration. People multitask with music while on the go. Almost by definition, it is an infinitely smaller market.?
?I would guess they are not going to bring one out from his reaction,? added Pogue. ?It doesn?t really sound promising to me. They?ll probably wait and see how much enthusiasm Microsoft?s product gets for making a decision.?
Even if Apple were to release a PVP, would it really do all that well for the company?s bottom line? As Jobs already had pointed out, there are a number of reasons why the market, despite the successes of smaller players like Creative and Archos, will never be more than a niche.
Apple would not comment on this story given their policy of not talking about future products, real or speculative.
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