In probably the most surprising move in the announcement of the new iPods yesterday Apple has unbundled the FireWire cable in favor of (Gasp!) USB. Has Steve Jobs lost his mind? Read More…
In probably the most surprising move in the announcement of the new iPods yesterday Apple has unbundled the FireWire cable in favor of (Gasp!) USB. Has Steve Jobs lost his mind?
Apple invented the Grammy award-winning FireWire (a.k.a. IEEE 1394, iLink) and has been bundling it with every Mac since the Power Mac G3 “Blue & White.” Apple even turned a blind eye to USB 2.0 in their first few products released after the faster USB standard was available, presumably to push their “better and faster” FireWire.
When Apple announced the new iPod minis and Photos they also announced lower prices dropping the iPod Photo from US$499 (40GB) and US$599 (60GB) to US$349 (30GB) and US$449 (60GB) an apparent drop of US$150 until you realize that they also unbundled not only the FireWire cable (US$20) but also the the Dock (US$40) and the A/V cable (US$20) as well, bringing the actual price drop to more like US$70.
Apple’s attention shift toward PC customers lately is more than a little disturbing. The company appears to care more about converting PC users to Macs than they do about their loyal customer base. It has been suggested several times that Apple doesn’t even attempt to market their products to existing Mac users anymore because they’ve already “got” them and like sheep, they’ll just continue to buy.
The switch from FireWire to USB in the iPod box, Apple’s iMac commercials (“from the people that brought you the iPod”), January’s iPodWorld Expo (ahem, Macworld Expo) and a spate of litigation against its greatest fans and advocates are more signs that Apple has forsaken its loyal base and is instead only focused on new business.
Think Different indeed.
