Apple / Nokia - Blood in the water

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Originally uploaded by tnkgrl

"Comrades we sail into history"

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to look at a big event before it happened. It is very easy to look into the past and pick out when political or technological change occurred, it is much harder the other way around. However one of those nexus points of history is upon us.

Apple finally has a competitor that can compete with it, Nokia. Apple has all but dominated the mp3/mobile audio space since the launch of the iPod in 2001 (yes that long ago) but recently Steve Jobs and his skivvy wearing brethren had the temerity to move into the mobile phone space with the launch of the iPhone. Apple have been successful because the have made stylish music players never had any competition from the likes of Microsofts Zune or Creative MuVo.

Nokia, however, have been playing the stylish mobile device game even before Apple launched their iPod, they had the express-on covers for the Nokia 5110 that came out in 1998 (and my first mobile) and they knew it was just providing the technology but also the humanity, and they made a lot of money with the 5110 one of the most popular mobile phones ever.

So if you cast your net out on the internet today it should be no surprise that on the same day that there are rumours of Apple launching a wireless iPod and associated wireless iTunes, Nokia have launched their online music website.

Apple has dominated mobile music for a long time and seemed unassailable with the DRM lock in that allowed then to sign up the 5 major labels they did. However following Steve Jobs magic letter on DRM in February there is now a move away from DRM which lowers the barrier for entry for competitors into mobile music.

Nokia has tried and failed to enter different areas of the mobile space it didn't belong, the N-Gage for example was a miscalculation, (however they have ported N-Gage games into the S60 platform so it wasn't for nought). However they have maintained their dominance as they are never afraid to learn and adapt to the new models. As Nokia's Executive VP & General Manager of Multimedia, Anssi Vanjoki ,said, said when images of a Nokia iPhone knock were released "If there is something good in the world then we copy with pride." Nokia may not win the new mobile internet/music race but by jingo they will give Apple a run for their money if they don't. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Is Steve Jobs a big fat liar?

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Originally uploaded by marble2.

OK liar is a bit harsh, how does less than truthful work? I like every body was taken a back recently with Steve Jobs open letter on DRM Link. It definitely seems timely and must have had some impact as EMI seemed to have signed up for a DRM free service from iTunes (but in an interesting move the DRM free songs cost more and are supposed to be of higher quality). DRM is also getting thrashed arround the head with the various hacks been found to the new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray formats :

AACS Cracked Again

However over the weekend I was thinking, what if Steve Jobs stated reason for wanting to move away from DRM was not for the reason stated in the open letter, some thing along the lines that the music exists in the world already DRM free, thanks to CD. What if there is a chronic or fatal flaw in the FairPlay system? One that can't be software or firmware fixed and old Steve there is containing and spinning the situation to push companies like EMI into a DRM free world before a flaw in the scheme does it any way. I suppose it is a very pessimistic view of the world however any plot or scheme to move to a DRM free world, however to get there works for me.

Aussie Pirates

I have been debating whether or not to start a blog so I guess I must have if anyone is reading this. Life has been made a lot easier recently with the new spell check feature in firefox, woo hoo! A lot of people probably feel the audio and video content war on the internet is almost complete but I feel we haven't even gotten started yet. However as an aussie resident I was some what perturbed by this announcement today :

Blackout threat for music Thieves

jolly roger, originally uploaded by &y.

I guess time will tell if this ever bares out, but until recently the legal position on even owning a iPod wasn't legally clear, just not yet contested. This was one of the suggested reasons for the long time it took for the iTunes store in Australia.

It kind of annoying, but it won't stop anything. I'm sure we'll see the current affair shows go into a frenzy the first couple of times when a granny or a 5 year kid get blamed for downloading music and have their phone or internet connection switched off. But for the high end users, which I'm sure where all the money is been "lost", these people are fairly smart and they just migrate to the darknet. When will these music execs realise that the battle is lost and move to the next business model? Apple are ahead of the game here and time and time again people only notice it after they have done it. The open letter from Steve Jobs on DRM should be a wakeup call, EMI seemed to have heard it why can't the ARIA dudes.