Software Destinations

In an efford to increase revenue by tapping every dollar earned off of the iPod eco-system, Apple is increasing pressure on ipod peripheral makers to pay up their 10% in the Made for iPod program, according to a report on News.com. Apparently to gain access to critical information regarding a new port, you have to pay to play. Apple is not without precident in doing this. Microsoft, for example, intends on tapping peripheral makers for a percentage for the xBox 360.

Just when I was thinking Apple had out-Microsoft Microsoft on licensing, Microsoft strikes back! Microsoft will use a security system built into the xBox 360 to ensure that only peripherals made by royalty paying licensees will actually work with the xBox 360. Earlier this year, Apple announced its logo program to extract a 10% royalty from iPod accessory makers. But Microsoft takes it a step further by securing their hardware against pikers. (more…)

John J. Sviokla’s Fast Company article “In Praise of Ecosystems” states “The iPod is doomed. Not this month, not this year, and maybe not the next. But soon enough, Apple will lose its hold on the marketplace for both digital-audio players and digital songs. It’s inevitable” with a comparision to the failure of the Mac. However it seems to me that the iPod is the first business ecosystem that Apple has ever had. This brings me back to the Steve Jobs quote on the first edition of Geoffrey Moore’s Inside the Tornado: “The Chasm is where many high-tech fortunes have been lost…the Tornado is where many have been made.” — Steve Jobs. (more…)