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iPod (music player), iPhone (cell phone), then...

bluedoggiant

bluedoggiant

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 13, 2007
2,657
102
MD & ATL,GA
i have a feeling its camera, its just the way things are, thats wat portable electronics are all about these days, its what people have, apple basically OWNS the music industry, they've grabbed the attention of the cell-phone era, and taking over it, and next thing can just be a camera, just as wackie as a phone, you never know its just part of the sequence, tell me if your feeling this, it might be introduced at the macworld expo!!
 
No, excluding iSights and the built-in camera in the iPhone, Apple won't be entering the camera market. It simply isn't their field.

Plus, they'd fail miserably.
 
EricNau said:
No, excluding iSights and the built-in camera in the iPhone, Apple won't be entering the camera market. It simply isn't their field.

Plus, they'd fail miserably.
Click to expand...

id say..they should make there cinema displays into nice tvs..with built in AppleTV features(such as wifi/hard drive)

i want a 40" Apple Television with Built in AppleTV
 
EricNau said:
No, excluding iSights and the built-in camera in the iPhone, Apple won't be entering the camera market. It simply isn't their field.

Plus, they'd fail miserably.
Click to expand...

A year ago people were probably saying the same thing about Apple and cell phones.
 
Sobe said:
A year ago people were probably saying the same thing about Apple and cell phones.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested in seeing if Apple could make a point and shoot camera that can actually best Nikon and Cannon. And if there were going to do a DSLR, well all I can say to that is good luck.
 
How big is the camera market?

Apple has iSight on there 3/5 of their personal computers..(wish we'd see external iSights for Mac Pro and Mac Mini users) and camera on their whole line up of phones(all one of them!).

If anything good cameras on phones are eatting away at the casual camera owner(do I really need my old 4MP camera, when I have a 2MP camera on my phone?...no, but I like to have it)
 
considering the risk they took by going headfirst into the cell phone industry, I can't see them taking on other sectors anytime soon.

I *can* see them improving the camera abilities of future iphones though, but nothing like a DSLR.
 
compuguy1088 said:
They already tried to enter the camera market in the mid to late 90's, there products never caught on...though that was before Jobs returned to Apple if I recall.
Click to expand...
You're right ...and it failed miserably. :D

That's exactly how Jobs repaired Apple upon his return. Apple tried to enter too many markets at one time, and it was too much for the company to handle. ...Since that time, Apple has been branching out in recent years with the iPod, and now the iPhone, but those products are still very much directly related to Apple's specialty: computers.

A digital camera, on the other hand, is just as much (if not more) of a camera than a computer. ...If Apple developed a digital camera I have no doubt the UI would be outstanding, but the optics would most probably be lacking (unless Apple partnered with a competitor to provide the optics). Nonetheless, people would be very slow to adopt a camera from a company with zero optical experience and zero market saturation.

So I stand by my original statement: it would fail miserably.
 
development into technology of optics i dont think is in apples range of aesthetics...its a different world. haha

an Apple TV tho, theres an idea

give me my 70 inch apple display/tv:)
 
Maybe the portable game console market, nitendo ds, psp, .... since they can't crack the game market with their PC's. Game industry is huge... Job's can bring in his Pixar resources.
 
Sobe said:
Apple TV with tivo-like properties. All hooked into itunes.

/drool
Click to expand...
I was hoping one of Leopard's secret features would be TiVo-like recording built into OS X and iTunes, with capabilities to stream recorded content to Apple TV (with a nifty device like Apple TV, I don't really see the need to have the recorder directly connected to the TV. It'd be much easier to program and record the content on a computer, then stream it to the TV).

...But we got new icons instead. :(
 
EricNau said:
Nonetheless, people would be very slow to adopt a camera from a company with zero optical experience and zero market saturation.
Click to expand...

You mean like how they would be slow to buy Apple phones :p

Personal, I don't think Apple should enter the camera market, camera UI aren't used by tons of people, I ask people what settings they have it on, and they look at me and say "All I'm doing is taking a picture"

UI in camera aren't as important as they are in phones, computers for digital music devices.
 
Another way to think about this is: Apple first introduced a music organization software, then a music device. They now have a good photo organization software, would they introduce a photo device? Well, the photo device is already there which are the iPods and iPhones. The same logic applies to video as well.

But a camera is a photo generation device. I guess a device that combines audio generation ( audio recording ), reception ( FM ), acquiring ( iTunes wi-fi store), photo generation ( camera ) and video generation ( video camera ) and make them all easy to use is something Apple can deliver. And it will seamlessly fit into the iTunes infrastructure.

The competition with existing camera makers is really not an issue since Apple will not be in the Lens business, they will outsource it, like they did for the iPhone radio chip. That goes to the rest of the camera components. What apple can add which other camera companies don't have the skill set is some radical ideas around the User Interface for the camera.
 
EricNau said:
You're right ...and it failed miserably. :D

That's exactly how Jobs repaired Apple upon his return. Apple tried to enter too many markets at one time, and it was too much for the company to handle. ...Since that time, Apple has been branching out in recent years with the iPod, and now the iPhone, but those products are still very much directly related to Apple's specialty: computers.

A digital camera, on the other hand, is just as much (if not more) of a camera than a computer. ...If Apple developed a digital camera I have no doubt the UI would be outstanding, but the optics would most probably be lacking (unless Apple partnered with a competitor to provide the optics). Nonetheless, people would be very slow to adopt a camera from a company with zero optical experience and zero market saturation.

So I stand by my original statement: it would fail miserably.
Click to expand...

well thats true, apple cant make their own optics, its just too much, but i would think they will adapt it from a company like carl ziess or sumthing
 
Sobe said:
A year ago people were probably saying the same thing about Apple and cell phones.
Click to expand...

No...Apple have been waiting for Apple's phone for a while...1999 they got iPhone.org..so its possible some fan have been waiting that long.


I've been waiting since '05
 
dangleheart said:
Another way to think about this is: Apple first introduced a music organization software, then a music device. They now have a good photo organization software, would they introduce a photo device? Well, the photo device is already there which are the iPods and iPhones. The same logic applies to video as well.

But a camera is a photo generation device. I guess a device that combines audio generation ( audio recording ), reception ( FM ), acquiring ( iTunes wi-fi store), photo generation ( camera ) and video generation ( video camera ) and make them all easy to use is something Apple can deliver. And it will seamlessly fit into the iTunes infrastructure.

The competition with existing camera makers is really not an issue since Apple will not be in the Lens business, they will outsource it, like they did for the iPhone radio chip. That goes to the rest of the camera components. What apple can add which other camera companies don't have the skill set is some radical ideas around the User Interface for the camera.
Click to expand...

it would be called the icam
 
zap2 said:
No...Apple have been waiting for Apple's phone for a while...1999 they got iPhone.org..so its possible some fan have been waiting that long.


I've been waiting since '05
Click to expand...

i really believe in an icam that takes 12 meg pix, and video recording format of h.264, and sum kind if best shot feature like in those casios (i have one)
 
bluedoggiant said:
well thats true, apple cant make their own optics, its just too much, but i would think they will adapt it from a company like carl ziess or sumthing
Click to expand...
Even if that were true, it's still not a market I can see Apple penetrating.

First of all, there's not a lot missing from the camera market as it is now that Apple can take advantage of. For the most part, camera manufacturers have taken cameras to amazing levels, and there just isn't much room for improvement (other than the technology itself).

...You say the UI, but is the UI on a camera really that important? ...I'd say that many digital camera owners never even use it (and the rest don't care).

Plus, if Apple were to make a digital camera, they'd have to outsource practically every single component. ...It'd be practically like the HP iPod, only in this case it'd be the Apple Cybershot (a sony camera with Apple's UI). ...Do we all remember how that HP iPod worked out? ;)

And Apple would still be missing the most important thing: reputation. People care a lot about their cameras. They want a camera they can trust to capture their memories forever. Everyone's worst fear is getting back from a vacation to find out all of their pictures are blurry. ...The same isn't true for an iPod or iPhone because if it doesn't work well, you buy a new one and you've only lost money. If you buy a camera that takes poor pictures, you've wasted your money and lost your pictures forever.

How many people are willing to take a chance with their memories?

PS - Plus, an Apple camera would have virtually no professional support (they'll stick with their Canons and Nikons and Sonys). Who's going to want a camera that the professionals don't trust?
 
Noumenon said:
Maybe the portable game console market, nitendo ds, psp, .... since they can't crack the game market with their PC's. Game industry is huge... Job's can bring in his Pixar resources.
Click to expand...

Cause Pixar has been known to make great videogames...
 
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