Apple’s iPod is “becoming a whole new platform, independent of Macs or Windows” and is “giving Jobs & Co. new life,” Charles Haddad writes in his latest Byte of the Apple column for Business Week Online.
Haddad sees Windows compatibility for the iPod as Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ “backhanded acknowledgement that he screwed up big-time in the early 1980s.” What was his blunder? Keeping the Mac OS a closed system with the result of driving consumers and computer makers to Microsoft, Haddad opines.
“With his iPod strategy, Jobs is saying, in effect, never again. This time, he’s going to the people rather than sitting back and waiting for the people to come to him,” he added.
The result is a major success. In fact, if iPod sales continues to grow at their current rate, it’s possible that they’ll will outsell iBooks a year from now, Haddad says.