How iTunes Could Improve With Competition

iTunes is the most widely used music service in North America and probably the world. The service has a 80% market share with it's iTunes store. The iTunes store is growing and will soon throw competitors off the racks of shelves. The question is: Why hasn't anyone challenged it?

The iTunes Store has a scot free almost no competition streak. The only competitors are Napster and Rhapsody which are only music not like the all in one iTunes Store package. iTunes has been hard to beat with Apple's power and the fact that they have okay quality music for a reasonable price. The only times a competitor would improve is because of competition like the situation in Canada where wireless carriers are fighting for customers like there's no tomorrow with Bell, Telus and Rogers yanking their throats with unbelievable deals not seen before. Now lets look at iTunes. Previously it offered low quality music at the same price, but that changed thanks to BitTorrent. The site OiNK's Pink Palace used to offer high quality music in all formats at the highest bit rates in each format. When it got shut down, iTunes quickly increased the bitrate of their music and made it DRM free.

That doesn't explain why a new company shouldn't take the crown away. What's shocking is that iTunes hasn't changed much over the years that is worth noticing. Ever since OiNK it's stayed the same. iTunes needs a new competitor,but it's not getting one. I believe a new service can work out the things companies won't do so they can maximize profits. Now, I'm sounding all Mao Zedong-ish but lets think about the people for a second. If we don't give them what they want won't there be rebellion. If something legal like OiNK started, then there wouldn't be such thing, would there. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails was a member and said at the time of closure "I admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made Oink a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could imagine, it was there, and it was in the format you wanted. If Oink cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now." He criticized services like iTunes for being poor and low-quality.

The question is when will we see change. Not so likely. I want to lead that change. Nothing in this world is perfect, but we can make it close enough to call it perfect.

What Will Happen To Desktops and Laptops?

Mobile devices are everywhere. In fact I see them everywhere, teens with iPhone 4's or Samsungs or other brands. They're everywhere, but it makes stop to think, where will all the desktops and laptops go if they're unpopular anymore? Their going away fast is what I can say.

The mobile industry is probably one of the fastest growing industry in the world. Many people own a smartphone of some brand and probably have an expensive "non-unlimited" plan attached to it. Apple made this industry go boom after RIM created it. Apple is what we call the game changer. Whatever they make is what is generally what people will buy. They have made Macs that nobody really thinks about, but then comes the iPhone and the iPad. These are the two things that most people think can do things just like a PC. They can do things like word processing, e-mail, and all sorts of things.

Have we evolved from the laptop or desktop. I believe we have unfortunately. These types of computers shall go away eventually to make shelf for the new just like the VHS and DVD that got replace by Blu-ray. Home computers is not somebody goes buying anymore, it's either the new iPhone or the hottest tech gadgets that look cool and awesome not laptops or desktops.

The industry has evolved don't you think. The world is not as simple anymore thanks to Apple that has released year after year iPhone's that are somehow better and more worth to buy especially with the upgrade option.

Is the smartphone better than the PC, well lets look at the modern day user. The modern day user would probably just surf the web and go on YouTube and all that. You can do that on a smartphone and a PC. You may also want to play a game or two. Both options are available. You want to write or make a blog post: both are possible. You want something portable: smartphone wins.

So who is the real winner: the smartphone of course. The smartphone in my opinion has enough to satisfy the common day user and I believe as things progress things get better fast, especially since everything changes like every year or month nowadays.

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The Tablet Wars Have Begun - Who Will You Root For?

The tablet wars have begun with Apple and the iPad. The question is which is better. Apple has got its easy interface and loyal customer base. Google has got their open source linux initiative and their freedom for users. RIM has nothing worth looking at though in my opinion so it's down to the iPad and Google.

The iPad is what is called a computer miracle. It has launched a new industry of personal computers that was ventured and unsuccessful previously. Apple's success is probably due to it's clean interface and easy usability. The iPad was something nobody expected to be a big sucess, but few did as Apple did with the iPhone in the past. The iPad's iOS is closed source which is not what everyone wants, but we all run Windows 7 and Mac OS X which are both closed source and are still wonders right. The thing that probably drags the iPad are the plans offered, but consumers don't mind. Look at the iPad it can do everything your PC can do in a more portable fashion! This is Apple's message to consumers technically. The iPad was the starter, but nobody ever said it was the winner.

Soon after Apple's success came Google. Google launched Android and currently is the second in world mobile OS consumption. It may have fewer apps than Apple, but people appreciate it that it's open source and that Google accepts offers that Apple turns away and shames, only to later want it back desperately like the Adobe Flash incident on iPhones, iPads, and MacBook Airs. Google didn't, but that doesn't make Google a winner either. Google's interface is not the most easiest to use in the world. The word goes: Apple is for consumers, Google is for nerds or patient people.

Google and Apple go head to head everyday finding ways to dominate the mobile market yet they don't always succeed like Apple's iPhone 4 problem and Google's tablet incompatibility. The victor is not set in stone. Google's winning, but nobody knows. As the saying goes, it ain't over till it's over!

iPiracy - The World May Actually Need It

I am planning to launch a site on internet piracy or iPiracy for short. Here I will talk about how internet piracy is good in some ways. An example is OiNKs Pink Palace.

OiNK was created a few years ago as a music only torrent site. The site was private and had high quality music songs of every format you could imagine from MP3 to OGG. The songs were also in higher quality than what you could get at iTunes at the time. This marked a shift as people proved that they weren't going to pay for something with poor quality and DRM with it as well. OiNK eventually grew and grew until the US government came in. They shut it down, but all was not lost. iTunes eventually increased their music quality, but didn't have every format you could ever think of, nope that is something Apple didn't do.

Another one was the Pirate Bay. The Pirate Bay was the worlds largest torrent site with the most members and torrents indexed compared to other torrent trackers. The Pirate Bay got into trouble recently. They shut down their tracker and their founders and funder were sent to jail for intellectual property infringement aka copyright infringement. Nothing came out though from this.

What makes me mad is that why don't we stop iPiracy by making things better and cheaper. I mean if we did it with cars how come we can't do it with piracy. Some people do it because they don't want to pay, but some people do it because the stuff they can buy is not worth their money. Would you want a lower version for 99 cents or a higher quality for a dollar. It's your choice.

I believe in paying, but that doesn't mean people can abuse that. I believe that if piracy were to be gone, you would need to make the things people download cheaper or more worth their buck then right now where internet piracy is going up, not down.