Monday, January 17, 2005

Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus

Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus: "Apple Insider: "Hewlett-Packard, which recently entered into a strategic alliance with Apple to deliver HP-branded versions of the iPod under name 'iPod HP', has stopped placing orders for the digital music players with Apple Computer, AppleInsider has learned.
Hewlett-Packard is reportedly quarreling with Apple over a lack of price protection offered with the iPods it manufacturers through the Mac maker, possibly explaining why the two companies have yet to set a date for the rollout of the HP-branded iPod photo.
Without a set price protection policy from Apple, HP will be vulnerable to sudden iPod price cuts that would leave it biting the full cost of those reductions. Apple currently offers HP no price protection, whatsoever, on the two models it currently sells."
..."
"This shows two things: That Apple intends to use the cachet it's built up for the iPod and that HP was so desperate to bask in the glow of the iPod that it would make what is pretty obviously a really bad deal."

Also from the Apple Insider article:
"During Apple's Q1 2005 financial conference call on Wednesday, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that HP-branded iPods accounted for only 7% of the 4.58 million iPods sold during Apple's December quarter. Curiously, this figure rose just one percent from the previous quarter, even though both parties vouched that the December quarter would be marked by an increased presence of HP's iPod offerings."

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