Apple Apple watchers anticipating the big iTV announcement from Apple next month were disappointed yesterday when Cupertino sent out media invitations to a “special event” on September 1 in San Francisco that is pretty clearly not going to be a TV announcement.
The invitation was typically cryptic but featured a picture of a an acoustic guitar with an Apple logo cutout, pointing strongly to an music-related announcement. Speculation has now shifted to something iPod, with maybe a little iTunes news thrown in.
Much of the confusion, I think, stems from a failure to appreciate the degree to which Apple’s innovation focus, for now at least, has shifted from devices to software. A lot of that effort right now appears to be centered around iTunes, and in its way could be every bit as significant to the future of the media business as any new type of device Apple could bring out at this point.
If I had to bet, I’d say Peter Kafka of MediaMemo has it about right in his piece today suggesting the announcement next week will involve adding social features to iTunes but stopping short of the cloud-based streaming version many having been expecting since Apple bought Lala last year, which still faces significant rights challenges.
The new version [of iTunes] would be designed to synch up easily with the rest of the Internet and make it much easier for customers to share their musical tastes (but not songs) with friends.
Right now, you can get to the iTunes store only by using a downloaded program on your Mac or iPhone/iPod/iPad. But a Web-based version would allow buyers to get there without having to quit other applications. And if Apple makes it easier for services like Twitter and Facebook to link into the store and share recommendations, playlists and the like, then you can imagine some pretty interesting possibilities.
Indeed you can. Having successfully launched the iPad on top of the iPhone and iPod, and with its near-term path to the TV effectively blocked, Apple doesn’t really have anywhere to go right now on the device side. While it will continue to bring out refined and updated versions of its current crop of devices (cash flow and all that), its focus, of necessity, is shifting to platforms and to adding functionality to iDevices by leveraging their connectivity.
So, even if Steve Jobs doesn’t have a sexy new gadget to get everyone cooing next week, that doesn’t mean it won’t be an important announcement in terms of Apple’s overall strategy.
Further reading:
Apple Quietly Enables Online Streaming to iPhones, iPad and iTouch
More iHype: ‘Major’ Apple Announcement Sept. 1