Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Still no Beatles. Good.

Firstly, the idea that the Beatles would choose to appear on iTunes - at all, never mind exclusively - never made any sense to me. It always seemed more like wishfully thinking on the part of Apple fans. Don’t forget that it was only last year that Apple Corp and Apple Comp were slugging it out in court. I don’t think that there’s any love lost between the two companies. Right from the day Apple’s founders took the name of the Beatles’ company for their own this clash of egos was destined to happen. Apple Comp lost the first round but now look to have won the match. So unless it was part of their settlement, I don’t see the Beatles ever appearing on iTunes.

But this is a good thing. Too much success can lead to complacency. Steve Jobs may be a big Beatles fan but he’s an even bigger Steve Jobs fan. Apple needs to remember that things don’t always have to go their way, and it’s better this happens with a (relatively) small thing like this than with some major project (such as the iPhone). There is a certain arrogance about Apple’s actions which, if left unchecked, can only mean bad things for consumers.

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