Is Apple Planning iPhoto for Windows?
Six years ago Apple released iTunes, a digital media player. At the time it was Mac only. You would load songs from your CDs and play them on your computer. Nothing new, other apps had been doing that for years, so no one batted an eyelid.
Ten months later though, things started to change. Apple released the first iPod, and guess what, it could download songs from iTunes. With the second generation model another ten months later, Apple introduced Windows support via the third-party app, Musicmatch Jukebox.
In April 2003, the iTunes Music Store hit and the revolution really began to rock and roll. But there was one piece missing in the puzzle to complete the picture. A fire extinguisher and blizzard were required. Apple had to port one of its iLife applications to Windows. Not to say Apple had no previous Windows applications, for instance, Filemaker and Quicktime.
And so, six months later, Apple released a Windows version of iTunes. But iTunes, being part of iLife, was one of the enticements for people to switch, so there was an element of risk.
The risk seems to have paid off, as more than a few switchers, including my friend “Halo Girl,” switched because they were impressed with iTunes. Everyone talked about the iPod halo effect, but it’s possible that iTunes had a significant effect too.
The iPod has been Apple’s effort to conquer the mobile media market, and there’s no question of its success. But would it have succeeded without iTunes for Windows?
The question now, though, is will history repeat itself?
In March, Apple began shipping Apple TV, its device to conquer the non-mobile media market that is found in living rooms.
Reading about the Apple TV and early user experiences made me realize that now more than ever, Apple needs iPhoto for Windows.
Quoting the Apple TV webpage, “Apple TV puts your iTunes library—movies, TV shows, music, and podcasts—plus movie trailers from Apple.com on your TV. And your digital photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements or Adobe Album on a Windows PC appear in high definition.”
How long do you think Apple will tolerate that situation of using the Adobe apps for photo viewing on PCs connected to Apple TVs? Mind you, I’m not suggesting any ill will in the Apple-Adobe relationship.
(Now you could point out the iTMS as being crucial to Apple needing a Windows version of iTunes, and since there’s no equivalent for digital photography, is there really a need for iPhoto on Windows?)
It’s about the Apple experience and Apple having control.
iTunes for Windows gave users a taste of the apple and created a more seamless integration with the iPod—whether perceived or real. Plus then Apple also had control over the feature set.
Likewise a Windows version of iPhoto will give users a further taste of the apple and create a more seamless integration with the Apple TV—whether perceived or real. Plus then Apple will also have control over the feature set.
Considering these points, and the ever booming digital photography market, it really can’t be too long before Apple completes the puzzle for Windows using Apple TV owners, and releases iPhoto for Windows.
And then, who knows, maybe Apple will go the whole hog, and port all the iLife apps across.
With Apple TV, now it makes sense.
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Comments
1. It was never directly developed by Apple. It was a third-party product whose developer Apple bought and re-named Claris, then FileMaker, Inc.
2. It’s a technology. A format, a wrapper, a player, an authoring solution, a plug-in, several things. Digital cameras and camcorders use it as well. What you’re thinking of is the QuickTime Player application, it’s merely one component.
3. How about putting it like this: iPhoto isn’t worth much without integration with the rest of iLife? You can use your photo library in iMovie, iDVD and even GarageBand (podcasts). You can use songs from iTunes as soundtracks for your iPhoto slide shows. In itself, iPhoto doesn’t really do much. Its key value is in its integration.
4. The iTunes Store is at least breaking even, nobody seriously believes that they sell a billion songs at a loss each. I think iLife, even as a paid upgrade, harldy breaks even, if at all. It’s more like a marketing tool to sell more Macs. Putting its parts, with the sole exception of iTunes, on Windows PCs wouldn’t help Apple’s bottom line at all. Its potential “halo effect” is highly questionable.
7. Well, if the user isn’t satisfied with the software on Windows that’s available for preparing and managing the photos, Apple can always tell him or her to get a Mac for that precise reason. Trying to bribe users to switch by offering free lunches that make their stay on Windows actually more acceptable (and thus eliminating a reason for switching) is still not something I’d find very likely.
Chris wrote: “Sure looks like an application on my Mac. Apple even put it in the Applications folder.”
The Quicktime Player application in your Apps folder isn’t just a player either, it’s an authoring tool as well. If you’ve upgraded to Quicktime Pro, you can even record, transcode and edit audio and video. It also allows you to insert multiple tracks that contains text, URLs and even interactive Quartz Composer content.
This is why Quicktime Player has individual windows for each media file (it’s document based like Word on the Mac). This is in contrast to Windows Media player, which has a single window and playlist.
Also, Quicktime lets you assign a poster frame for each video as part of the file format. (a frame that you set as the “thumbnail”) This prevents a black thumbnail when your video fads in from black. Why Windows Media still doesn’t let you do this is beyond me.
Thanks, Scott, I was hoping someone else would chime in.
Andras, your first couple of points you are just being way too pedantic, seemingly to twist the intention of my piece to make it appeared flawed.
Filemaker is shorthand for FileMaker, and QuickTime is shorthand for QuickTime Player/QuickTime Player Pro.
On you’re 7th point, iPhoto on Windows does risk giving users a more satisfying experience thus lessening their need to switch; however, it also greatly, no hugely eases the switching pain, i.e. that of transferring photos.
Building bridges is a much more sensible way to get users to switch than saying “Hey, come on over, it’s great! But you will have to swim thru the raging river of switching pain to get here.”
Apple built one bridge (for music with iPod, iTunes and its libraries), and that hasn’t stopped users switching, in fact it’s readily accepted that it’s increased the number of users switching.
Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Microsoft Office, Flash and iTunes. That’s a pretty significant lineup. And yet, (nowadays) their presence on Windows is not a reason for peopel to not switch. People don’t say “Why would I buy a Mac when I can already run those apps on a PC?“In fact, their presence on the Mac is one of the reasons they do switch.
Cross platform availability for apps is a bridge that’s been critical to the Macs ongoing survival. (Albeit, it did hurt the Mac severely early on when Adobe ported their apps.)
iPhoto on Windows would open a bridge, which rather than giving people less reason to switch, removes barriers to them switching.
Apple has been transforming from an elite base of geeks who seek the best computer to an elite base of geeks who seek not only the best computer but also the best music player, the best mobile phone and yes, even the best software. Pre-iPod revolution, I bet you that less than five out of ten of your typical Dell happy consumers had any idea that Apple even existed. Fast forward a few years and I bet you that everyone at least has a rough idea of who Apple is and I am certain that the majority of Dell happy consumers think of MP3 players when they think of Apple.
The “Mac experience” is no longer relevant as it’s now the “Apple experience” and that experience includes more than software or computer, it extends way beyond that now. If Apple plans to gain more attention, well, I believe that releasing software into another market is the best way. iTunes was the first success using this philosophy and now Apple is trying it again with Safari. iPhoto, in my opinion, would be a big hit to Windows users - especially those who use the iPod photo feature. Let’s not forget about AppleTV users as well.
I think that wood never happen