My brother got a new iPod classic for Christmas, only to find that when he plugged it into his two year old Mac laptop, the two were incompatible.
At first, I couldn't believe that Apple would lock out its own users – does it really assume that every iPod user would also have bought a new Mac computer within the last year? After all, isn't one of the main advantages of today's home computers that they last for a very long time and don't often need replacing?
On closer inspection, we discovered that the new iPod classics only work with Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later – yet v10.4.9 was only released last April! On the other hand, if you have a Microsoft OS, you can use both Vista and XP, which means that anyone who bought their Windows PC in the last seven years is alright. And while the Apple fanatics out there will shout that you can upgrade and download the latest version of the software, the reality is that most people a) don't want the hassle of doing this, and b) don't really know how to.
However, if we look at the figures, perhaps it's not surprising that Apple is doing this. If someone can't use their iPod with their current laptop, they might as well just go down to the Apple Store and buy a shiny new computer, yes? I think not. If you’ve just bought an iPod classic, you’re hardly going to have the money, or inclination, to splash out on a brand new computer too.
What's more, Apple's phenomenal iPod growth is now beginning to slow down, which is negatively impacting the company's share price. This is hardly surprising though, as iPods are not like mobile phones, with consumers happy to throw them away and upgrade every year. You can almost always get a free phone by signing up to a contract, but you're always going to have to pay for an iPod and as most people only use them for listening to music, the extra features wouldn't necessarily justify the expense...
Yet Apple's constant launch of new versions and special edition iPods would seem to suggest the opposite. I think that Apple needs to take a hard look at itself and stop believing its own hype – we’re always being told how nice it is to live in Mac World, but reality might just be about to bite.
Comments