| Home > Community thoughts > Applying the coup d'etat to Vista's lame PR: denounce DRM, do a deal with Apple Corps then release the Beatles catalogue on iTunes without DRM. That's how. |
| Applying the coup d'etat to Vista's lame PR: denounce DRM, do a deal with Apple Corps then release the Beatles catalogue on iTunes without DRM. That's how. | | Date Created: 08 Feb, 2007, 12:51 AM |
How do you negate $500 million worth of publicity for a PC operating system you're about to leapfrog in terms of features, security, useability, and desirability?
Well, you let its own PR machine led by its Chief Software architect do some of the work for you in the shape of Bill Gates, whose appearances have garnered hardly positive reviews. In fact they've been scathing. |
 Then your advertising agency releases one of its most devastating yet humorous episodes in the series known as "I'm a Mac - I'm a PC". The one where PC has survived the Vista transplant but must now live with the consequences: horrendous security and permissions issues, reflecting a much more sinister push to embed DRM deep within the system.
Then you continue to suck the oxygen out of the Vista balloon but penning a personal letter about DRM to answer consumer-based criticisms from the EU, and those who assert Apple has a monopoly on online music sales and a lock-in for owners of iPods. You explain that your rather liberal DRM activities is in place at the behest of the record companies, and well, you'd rather do without if only said record companies would face the facts that most of their sales from their own stores and bricks and mortar outlets occurs without DRM anyway.
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| And then you really extinguish the PR flame by hinting at a deal with Apple Corps during your Keynote a month ago where you demo one of your two products that demonstrate why you're changing your name from Apple Computer to Apple Inc. |
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You "disappoint" those expecting a "one more thing" by not announcing a Beatles iPod which only serves to furnish more fuel to the rumour that a special iPod will be release during the Superbowl. They should have known better...
When that doesn't happen, you announce in the days that follow a deal with Apple Corp which tells the world get ready for the Beatles catalogue to appear on the iTunes Store, and then tell the world your real feelings about DRM.
All the while watching Vista continue to disappoint when people can be bothered attending to it.
But you're not finished with it yet.
Your announcements about the Beatles and DRM have been picked up in all manner of mainstream media, from newspapers through tech journals to music specialist publications to Wall Street money market analyst sites. And that's not to mention blogs with their niche readerships.
So why not up the ante? You and Sir Paul have much in common as I have blogged some time back when I expressed my hope for a Beatles iPod. Some ask why the Beatles would be so popular as digital releases when their work has been around in one form or other for more than 40 years.
They don't get it, do they?
Sir Paul has been through his own misery these last few months with a wretched divorce he just wants over and done with. He will remain one of the richest men in Europe despite it all.
For Steve Jobs, it's not about the money at this point in his life. For Ringo and the estates of George Harrison and John Lennon, and their management it's clear the time has come to embrace the changing times and bring the Beatles' legacy to a new generation of music lovers.
So why not make the Beatles catalogue the first on iTunes without DRM? The Beatles aren't beholden to any of the Big Four record publishers are they? The surviving Beatles and their families are incredibly wealthy, and even with what might happen to their downloaded files without DRM, they won't go broke selling them on iTunes. And if they can be bundled with a special edition iPod which sees some of the sale price going to an anti-cancer research-based charity, that will reduce some of the illegal duplicating by those with something of a conscience.
It will be one of the boldest statements Apple Inc and Apple Corp could make.
And continue to make Vista's 5 years and $5billion in development seem so inconsequential.
I say go for it.
What do you say? |
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