[blessingx]

See here.

 

[austonia]

heh... i was about to post this. how completely stupid. who wants an 'HP-branded' iPod? That's like a Ford-branded BMW. Not much demand, I reckon.

 

[sno1man]

HP and Apple Partner to Deliver Digital Music Player and iTunes to HP Customers

LAS VEGAS, Consumer Electronics Show, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Working to provide consumers with the most compelling digital content whenever and wherever they desire, HP and Apple® today announced a strategic alliance to deliver an HP-branded digital music player based on Apple's iPod(TM), the number one digital music player in the world, and Apple's award-winning iTunes digital music jukebox and pioneering online music store to HP's customers.

As part of the alliance, HP consumer PCs and notebooks will come preinstalled with Apple's iTunes® jukebox software and an easy-reference desktop icon to point consumers directly to the iTunes Music Store, ensuring a simple, seamless music experience. This offering is yet another way that HP is helping consumers enjoy more from their personal digital entertainment content.

"HP's goal is to bring the most compelling entertainment content and experiences to our customers," said Carly Fiorina, chairman and chief executive officer at HP. "We explored a range of alternatives to deliver a great digital music experience and concluded Apple's iPod music player and iTunes music service were the best by far. By partnering with Apple, we have the opportunity to add value by integrating the world's best digital music offering into HP's larger digital entertainment system strategy."

"Apple's goal is to get iPods and iTunes into the hands of every music lover around the world, and partnering with HP, an innovative consumer company, is going to help us do just that," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "As the industry balkanizes by offering digital music wrapped in a multitude of incompatible proprietary technologies, consumers will be reassured in getting the same unparalleled digital music solutions from both HP and Apple, two leaders in the digital music era."

According to internal HP research, more than 54 percent of current HP consumers download music to their PCs.

Over two million iPods have been sold since its introduction, solidifying its position as the number one digital music player in the world. All iPods work seamlessly with the award-winning iTunes digital music jukebox software and the iTunes Music Store, which has sold more than 30 million songs, providing music fans with the best digital music experience on either a Mac® or Windows PC.

The iTunes Music Store offers Windows and Mac users a music catalog of more than 500,000 songs, the same "gold standard" personal use rights and the same 99 cents-per-song pricing. The iTunes Music Store features online gift certificates for family and friends; Apple's innovative and patent-pending online "Allowance" feature, which allows parents to automatically deposit funds into their kids' iTunes Music Store account every month; more than 5,000 audiobooks, which can be purchased with one click and listened to on a Mac or Windows computer as well as on iPods; Celebrity Playlists; and new exclusive tracks from more than 60 artists. The iTunes Music Store offers music from all five major music companies and over 200 independent music labels.

Pricing & Availability

HP's digital music player is expected to become available this summer and be competitively priced to other digital music players currently available.

Beginning this summer, the iTunes software and a desktop icon guiding users to the music site will be preloaded on HP Pavilion, Media Center and Compaq Presario desktop and notebook consumer PCs.

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing. For the fiscal year ending on Oct. 31, 2003, HP revenue totaled $73.1 billion. More information about HP is available at www.hp.com.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software and Internet offerings.

NOTE: All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, Mac, Mac OS, iTunes and are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

 

[sno1man]

oops did not see blessing x's post on the same

 

[chicubs]

Its a waste of time, but it might look even cooler than the ipod cause itll come in a little more masculine color than the ipod's white...or those hideous mini colors *shudders*

 

[HighwayStar]

Who would'a thunk it ?

 

[djgustashaw]

What the crap... way to shoot yourself in the foot, Apple. They say it'll be "competitvely priced." If it's basically an iPod with a lower price, iPod sales will drop drastically.

 

[terrymx]

i'm using an hp computer right now and all it do is crash and crash.

 

[terrymx]

there's like 3 post about this already. i think its going to be a compaq rio next.

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally posted by terrymx i'm using an hp computer right now and all it do is crash and crash.

lol

welcome to Hewlett ****Packard

they'll find some way to de-stablize the ipod, i just know it

 

[sno1man]

this may be the missing puzzle peice. Apple does not want to make true low end ipods. But HP has good manuafacturing resources and flash memory smarts.

Apple may not produce a $129 ipod but hp might.

 

[JefferyK]

According to the New York Times, Hewlett-Packard isn't manufacturing an iPod. Rather, Apple is making one in H-P blue:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/08/te...D-MUSI.html?hp

 

[lindrone]

On the bright side, at least HP didn't license the new Samsung player instead and package Napster 2.0 with the computer..

 

[austonia]

Quote:

Originally posted by lindrone On the bright side, at least HP didn't license the new Samsung player instead and package Napster 2.0 with the computer..

ehh... good point. Even if iPod looks like a dumb piece of HP-stuff, it's still 1,000 better than Samsung's goofy thing.

 

[hempcamp]

I think it's a brilliant idea on the part of Apple. It bolsters support for iTMS, which in turn strengthens sales of their own iPod(s). For once, they seem to have figured out how to harness competition for their own good instead of shutting themselves into a niche market.

--Chris