Quote:
Originally Posted by CCDMan
Right now all of this talk, mine and that of others, is just speculative guessing. Perhaps entertaining, but certainly not definitive.
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I agree 100% with you there.
Apple seems particularly good at playing a poker faced game where their business decisions are concerned. While interest in most tech launches fades pretty rapidly, the talk about Apple products seems to go on and on, due in no small degree to the part that the knockers obligingly play in keeping the pot stirred and the buzz going. It wouldn’t surprise me if their marketing team even posted a bit of hate mail themselves occasionally just to keep the publicity bubbling along.
Nobody seems to get the debates going to quite the degree that Apple manages - even the penguins at the South Pole are probably arguing about the iPad right now.
My guesses on the Amazon/Kindle aren’t based on any particular love for Apple, or claims of personal knowledge of their past history. They’re based on winding the microscope back a bit and looking at a wider picture.
We’ve only known about the iPad for a few weeks now, but the planning at Apple must have been going on for months if not years now. I’m sure that they would have considered a number of angles for maximising their own control and commercial advantage - as all businesses do. I certainly did. But I would expect that the core strategic decisions would have been made a while back rather than being left to the last minute. It’s only the public that are still guessing.
Realistically, what advantage would there to Apple in blocking Amazon Kindle apps now (or in the next week or two) rather than simply telling them beforehand that they wouldn’t be allowing it? I’m sure that Apple have been having some pretty tough negotiations with a number of people behind the scenes, but I can’t see any mileage for them in not having things mostly sorted by now. It probably suits them to have the media throwing out a steady stream of speculation about collapsing deals and wobbly negotiations, because it keeps the publicity going. But it would be a significant public relations problem for them if they stomped on the Amazon/Kindle app at this late stage.
Apple may be controlling, arrogant, or however you might see it, but I don’t reckon they’re silly enough to hand their detractors a plum opportunity like that right now. The anti-Apple brigade would hail it as vindication of their Darkside view of Apple, and also claim that it showed they were not just losing the plot but losing their commercial grip as well.
The timing just seems all wrong for a stomp. My guess is that Apple’s aim right now is the equivalent of the Political Photo Op - a snap of all the protagonists shaking hands and smiling at the camera. Give it a few months and they can all go back to kicking each other in the balls, but I’d be punting on an appearance of unity being the short term goal.
Once the launch is done with then a bit of ongoing biff in some areas could be tolerated - even massaged to keep interest up - but somehow I don’t think it will centre on the Kindle app.
I could be completely wrong of course - it has been known!
Cheers,
Chris