By Victor Karamalis
The clamor at the Moscone Center is loud from all the reporters and other invitees as Apple’s own Steve Jobs announced that all of the iPods will be updated or replaced. But the biggest business deal was the announcement of a partnership with Apple and Starbucks. New iPods will be able to connect to Starbuck’s Wi-Fi network for free without having to sign into T-Mobile’s network. This is huge because for the first time, the U.S. cellular carriers are not between the network and device on a mass scale here in the U.S. Starbucks currently has 7.950 U.S. locations. This essentially transforms every Starbucks into an iTunes Brick and Mortar store. Take that NBC Universal and your $4.99 episodes.
Apple has also renamed its original iPod calling it the iPod classic jumbo sizing it to a large 160GB drive. Jobs also announced the iPod Touch, a device that is 5/16 of an inch thick with 802.11 B/G Wi-Fi — connectivity and 3.5-inch touch screen that will come in almost the same form factor as the iPhone but no calls can be made. The eight and sixteen gigabit versions come at a whopping $299 and $399 respectively. The new, wider Nano now comes with a 2-inch video screen and metal design. A four-gigabit Nano is $149, while the eight- gigabit at $199. The Shuffle will also be available in a rainbow of colors at $79.
According to Jobs, there are now 6 million songs available on iTunes compared to 200,000 when the iTunes service came out about five years ago. Since then, 110 million iPods have been sold and over 600 million songs have been downloaded through iTunes. Apple is the number 3 music retailer behind Walmart and Best Buy. This is nothing but another brilliant marketing ploy by Jobs as he bridges innovation and coolness into these devices. Currently , Apple stock was hovering around $140 a share putting its market cap to just over $120 Billion.
Jobs also announced that Apple will be selling ring tones for its iPhone for 99 cents, plus the 99-cent cost of the song. It will now come with a custom ring-tone maker. Ring tones from more than 500,000 songs available on iTunes will go on sale next week. They’d normally sell for $2.49 but “now you can build it out of any part of the song” exclaimed Mr. Jobs as he made a ring tone from Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ when his wife would call him.
Tags: Apple Starbucks iPhone iPod Moscone Steve Jobs iTunes venti Howard Schultz
By Victor Karamalis
John Gerard was all set to put down a deposit on a new home purchase when he decided suddenly to quit his job, put the house buying on hold, bought camera equipment, and jumped in his car in a noble attempt to attain fame in 31 days. He started on August 21st and his final destination is Irvine, California with absolutely no itinerary. Some of you may be thinking that he is a freak but I call this DIY production grade reality TV on the web.
Although this may sound slightly familiar with 2004’s ‘My Date With Drew’, this is no less an education on an average human’s attempt to make it big using whatever tools and tactics are available in this Web 2.0 world in which we live. Currently, he has three videos on top of his website courtesy of Daily Motion, another video platform service but promises to serve up better quality videos than rivals YouTube and Metacafé. After this is all done, he wants to create a documentary based on his month-long escapade.
John has been going to different cities and looks for opportunities in the local media markets. In addition, he is going out of his way to put the spotlight on himself such as meeting up while on air — with Matt Lauer of the Today Show in Rockefeller Center and handing him his business card. Content aside (which is quite amusing by the way), he’s doing this entire trip without any planning while buying a high quality video camera, new laptop, and a cellular carrier wireless plan to connect and upload; the entire initial investment set him back $10,000. He himself is spellbound by the freedom that the technology gives him. He did go overboard financially but has no regrets. He hopes to make it on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno too. With the help of some very good friends, he is pulling all the strings that he can when he is going into cities like Cleveland and/or Cincinnati this weekend on a whim and arranging for local media coverage.
‘El Mariachi’ was another low budget film but it was scripted and planned. Yet, that movie was able to find an audience because of the content in spite of its budget; that just gave the movie extra grit for the masses and no time limit of 31 days. True that ad networks and Web 2.0 were not a force back in that time but this exercise in guerilla marketing may become a new trend where high quality video content can set itself apart from its low level sibling in exchange for some hard currency. John also seeks sponsorship through this 31 day self imposed marathon as mentioned on the site from those who believe in following their dreams. It may be possible that the power of blogging with rich media could make a dent in making some people household names. But is 31 days too short a time to do this with only one person meeting and greeting while taping himself including driving behind the wheel? The world is waiting…
