A number of tech companies have had big years but none may have had a bigger year than Apple. Apple has become of a part of the zeitgeist as much as pop stars and famous actors. It’s all because of a little handheld music player called the iPod.
Steve Jobs managed to keep everyone hopping this year with all the nifty little products including the diminutive Nano and the iPod Video. The two products generated a lot of buzz, both good and bad but still kept the name in the news. Apple worked a deal with Disney to show content from the ever popular “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost.”
Then there’s the iTunes juggernaut backing up iPod or perhaps it’s the other way around. Regardless, iTunes has been a lightening rod for a number of reasons. It’s helped the music companies find a profitable method of distributing content and to recoup some losses from the massive file swapping networks. The 99-cents-a-song model has proven worthwhile. An odd twist to this tale has been Apple becoming a dam against the record companies and their quest to raise song prices.
What else do we have here? Oh yes Apple dropped IBM for its processors and chose to go with Intel for the PowerPC line. Oddly enough, this didn’t receive nearly as much coverage, even though it was probably a bigger story. IBM and Apple had a profitable relationship for years and while there were stated reasons for the breakup, IBM seemed to have alleviated many of the problems Apple almost immediately after Apple signed the deal with Intel.
But, the iPod was the dominant force for Apple in 2005 and could quite possibly be in 2006. As many have pointed out, Apple has surpassed Sony as the go-to tech company for new stuff. After a big year in 2005, with Steve Jobs in the headlines frequently and Apple being a dominant presence, what can Apple follow up with?
John Stith is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
