Following a big iTunes announcement, Apple's Head of Product gives his polished overview.
After Apple’s more-muted-than-we-expected announcements, I had the chance to talk to Apple Product Manager Stan Ng about the announcements, Steve Jobs’ appearance, and Apple in the future.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so spoken to in such an upbeat manner at 10 o’clock on a Friday morning yet the tone of comments from tech-journalists the world over was that this was a damp squib announcement; ‘wearing a fur coat and nae knickers’ if you will.
On the Steve Jobs front Ng said:
‘We’re really excited for him to be back we had a great introduction yesterday and he was a great part of that.’
But that was that. What he really wanted to talk about were iPod’s, iPhones, iPods and iTunes. In fact iCouldn’t seem to draw him to talk about anything else, I suppose in their annual expose of their new lines, he doesn’t want to get caught up.
Asking about the Apple Tablet which so many journalists were expecting yesterday, Ng wouldn’t wasn’t to be drawn, it was Pods and Tunes all the way:
‘Nothing to talk about today, we’re just really excited for this holiday season with iPod and iTunes and we’re excited for people to go and check them out in the stores.’
Apple know they’re onto a winner with the Nano, the sales figures speak for themselves but are there really that many more units left to shift simply by adding a camera and some new software? Ng seems to think so: passionate, confident and without pausing for breath he enthused:
‘The video camera adds a great new dimension to the iPod Nano. It’s a great music player for us and people love to carry it around with them wherever they go with their music collection. And now being able to capture that video or kind of… spontaneous moment when you see something on the street or with your friends and family.
“We’ve got this great line-up starting £115 and we think people will make it a great holiday gift.”
Never flustered on the prowess of the models he had a hand in developing, Ng knows the social and cultural impact the latest few models such as the iPod Touch, iPhone and Nano have had. On reflection, it’s understandable when, even on a Friday, life is so good you can taste it on the spit of your morning breath. And he has a host of other interviews to do today where I bet confidence and tone won’t waver.
I mention iTunes, knowing its a slightly more divorcing subject. The latest edition of the software, iTunes 9, has pseudo smart-technology where the computer elects more seamless playlists of songs, not unlike Last.Fm.
It also offers old favourites we got with our records and CDs before he and his company made them all obsolete: access to liner notes, photos and other digital content; but isn’t the software update pitching at the wrong generation?
“I think it’s introducing it to a lot of new people that have never had an experience with LP’s and now having that great content as a digital format on your computer really adds a new dimension to the music experience and really opens it up for artists to actually talk to their listener in a whole fashion.”
And on the new features themselves, Ng was characteristically beaming:
“iTunes 9 has great new features for music lovers. It’s got a new feature called Genius Mixes which creates a continuous mix of songs that go great together.
“It looks back at what people used to love with LPs: having the great liner notes, song lyrics and now photos and video interview that can be added to the digital content so adding all those capabilities really makes the music experience richer.”
I have always had my doubts about iTunes. The interface and synchronisation options, they started from a position of being moderately complicated. The addition of sleavenotes and more digital features on top of photos, movies, rental and the rest could start to overcomplicate the service, especially if they hope to re-introduce it to the LP generation.
‘No the great simplicity in iTunes 9 is it’s just a great music jukebox for people to be able to manage their music collection and yet it adds a lot of features that really allows people to discover their music and new things as they go.
“iTunes 9 with its great simple interface has now been redesigned and new improved synching for your iPod or iPhone really just makes the experience even more easy.”
The iPhone didn’t get a great deal of mention today, but its brother, the iPod Touch was audibly an object close to Ng who believes the siblings will become even more revolutionary.
On the best of yesterday’s announcements Ng simply reiterated a perfectly synched PR printout which he may or may not have been reading from:
‘A lower price iPod Touch! It’s an incredible platform now.
‘With an iPod, a pocket computer, great portable games player, WiFi access and being able to access the app store’s 20,000 games and entertainment Apps. People to get all that at just £149.’
He also mentioned the lowly shuffle, the cheapest end of the iFamily which has had its price reduced even further for the run up to the festive season, it also has more colours, but what I really wanted to ask about was the good ol’ Classic.
News reports had us convinced the original iPod of the range was bound for retirement. Not so according to Ng:
‘The iPod classic has been fantastic. It’s the iPod that started it all, and it’s been updated to 160GB for people who have huge music collections or music lovers who want to take their music with them in the car or hook it up to a home stereo an iPod classic is perfect for that.’
‘No plans to discontinue that model’?
‘Not at this time.’
There we have it. The Classic remains for the time being. But the nature of Apple’s striving for progress and pioneering these beasts of social and cultural change, surely we have some new products to announce; if not the Tablet what else does Apple have to offer us in the next 18 months?
Not a hint nor a hoot. Did I mention this was a Pods, Phones and Bones article?
‘There’s so much we can look forward to. I think we’ve made some great innovations in a pocket phase with iPod and iPhone and I think especially the iPod Touch and iPhone really show the future of where pocket computing can be:
‘With great access to the internet; it’s really accessible access to the App store and all the things it can do with the different Apps there.’
Nothing much there then, I did ask.
One thing I have been keen to probe an Apple chief on was their pricing models as the developing world struggle to catch up with technology Western countries take for granted. We’ve seen the increase of things like netbooks to try and provide computer and internet literacy in the developing world.
I asked if Apple have got a role to play in trying to incorporate the third world or developing world into modern technology? More generous pricing models perhaps?
Ng breezily sidestepped like a PR officer of 90 years
‘Well nothing to announce on the Mac side. Today my focus is on iPod and iTunes but we’ll definitely look to some great innovations in the Mac space looking forward.’
It appears that beyond a few system updates, the addition of a few features to an ever-expanding iTunes and plastering a camera on the Nano there really wasn’t much more to get excited about after yesterday’s announcement and this follow up interview.
No mention of Tablets, Ng was unprepared to be drawn on future innovations or wider responsibility as Apple plans further world domination.
Instead Stan Ng, a pleasant and enthusiastic chap, acted out his PR remit comfortably, concisely and never wavered from his MO: Plug the Pods.
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