Apple vs The Others

Last week’s announcement from Apple that they will no longer continue to provide content from NBC shows that yet another swing to dethrone Apple as the leader in the purchased online media market has come along. Make no mistake about it; this thing with NBC was more than simply an attempt by another company trying to enforce their will on Apple.

It was a chess move designed towards ultimately obtaining control over how iTunes is run, therefore eventually taking controlling power away from Apple. We could’ve slowly seen Apple lose more and more control over “their iTunes” by giving in to the ridiculous demands of these media giants. I applaud Apple for refusing to raise their prices from $1.99 to $4.99 per NBC show download. Their commitment to the consumer on this matter will only feed the ever-growing monster that is the iTunes faithful customer base. Millions and millions of iPod owners call iTunes home and now our beloved iPhone is thrown into the mix.

As long as Apple continues to protect those of us that will heavily rely on iTunes content to fill our devices, Apple will maintain its stranglehold on the downloaded media market. Apple knows the competition is only going to get heavier and the bucking of the system by some of the current media giants, as what we saw this week by NBC and previously from its parent company Universal, will not be the last. Apple is clearly defining where its loyalty lies early on. Don’t get me wrong, I know Apple is thinking of their bottom line first and foremost but they haven’t ignored us in the process as many other companies have done in the past.

Here is what I think could happen. Apple has aggressively increased their product development, market presence and market share over the last 18-24 months. They have shown time and time again over that period that they are establishing a forward thinking mentality for the company. One that will re-establish Apple’s presence to what it was B.W. (before Windows). They are going to overcome this challenge in a manner that will benefit Apple but also not alienate

Cupertino’s greatest asset, us. Beyond the iMac, MacBook Pro, and yes even the iPhone, Apple is most concerned about us and where we take our money.

So fret not my fellow iTunes users, we will continue to see Apple bring us interesting and desirable downloadable content to spend our hard-earned money on. If not from NBC then from someone else who will gladly step right into the space on our iTunes menu that was previously occupied by NBC.