Apple just announced that you can now download tracks to the new iPod touch over wifi. I love it - for so many reasons. First, I love the idea of getting music over the air, untethered. To me that is pretty awesome. I love it that it ties into the desktop environment - which is still central to pretty much everyone’s world in the US. And I love it for strategic reasons for rVibe:

  1. Apple as a leader is putting wireless download into the public eye - a really good thing for the music download industry.
  2. It puts tremendous pressure on wireless carriers to up their game for music downloads (strategic alignment for us).
  3. It highlights how difficult it is to find music: In general it’s tough - but on a little hand held - ugh! Give me some recommendations! Don’t give me a top ten or the starbucks favorites!
  4. It high lights how lousy iTunes actually is for anything other than being a iPod sales tool.

I think our wireless strategy addresses an increasing gap in the over-the-air music download space for handheld devices. That gap being - too much music, too little window space, too limited interaction for finding music, and not enough control over the desktop environment. Oh - and with the prevelence of txting, we have a KILLER way for super distribution to take off. Love it.

Originally published on WordPress on September 06, 2007. Migrated to this blog on May 29, 2025.