An article in the New York Times today was very cutely entitled “Steve Jobs: iCame, iSaw, iCaved”. It covered the author, David Carr’s, perceptions of Steve Jobs price dropping, price fixing and price blundering. He alluded briefly to the feelings of remorse that the early buyers of the iPhone were showing when before their eyes at the Apple store near Central Park in NYC the price dropped by a third. I’ve already let you know my thoughts on this. It also seems that Apple has renamed some of the earlier iPods as iPod Classics (for some reason I don’t think it’s going to be the same story as with Coca Cola Classic). You want you Coke classic but you want your technology cutting edge… even, futuristic.
What I found most interesting in Mr. Carr’s article was his perception of the refusal of Apple to allow the producers of content to fix the prices of the songs/television shows they offer on iTunes. It’s true that as a consumer I like to be able to find the latest song that I can’t get out of my head and be able to purchase it on iTunes and know that it will not cost me more than $0.99, or if I want a little entertainment on my next plane trip I know that and episode of the Office will only cost $1.99. It’s nice. It feels like going to the equivalent of a drive-thru and getting a burger of the value menu. It’s also just as easy.
The problem is that all songs are not truly equal (neither are all shows) and for that reason the people who put them out should be allowed to name the price (just like they can for albums). The truth is iTunes is not out there to make tons of money. As Carr pointed out, it is there to ensure that people can happily load up their swanky Apple gadgets. ITunes ensures that people will keep wanting iPods and iPhones and all future i-stuff because they know that it is simple and straight forward to put all sorts of interesting and entertaining things on them.
What happens when NBC gets upset and no longer wants to put up with the price stipulations? If they pull away from iTunes and more record companies do the same will Steve Jobs finally be in some real trouble. ITunes is all about making things easy to buy and therefore easy to enjoy but what if I can’t get what I want there anymore. Apple is installing iTunes friendly purchase power in Starbucks across the nation. Sure it will be more available, but what if I can’t stock up on what I want?
As a client I am happy with the iTunes service so far but I think Apple may want to start thinking about the other end of the spectrum (record labels, TV big shots) if they want to keep everyone happy. Happiness does seem to be one thing that Apple wants to ensure stays in people’s heads when they think Apple. Hey, if they increase the prices of some of those hit singles maybe they can lower the iPhone price another $200 big ones… Here’s hoping
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