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Apple, HP Call it Quits on iPod Deal

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

July 29, 2005, 4:46 PM

After a relationship that lasted just a little over a year and a half, Apple and Hewlett-Packard are calling it quits. Various news sources on Friday reported that the two companies mutually agreed to end the deal under which Apple produced co-branded iPods for the computer maker.

The falling out comes as a surprise, since HP as recently as July 1 announced that it would sell a co-branded version the iPod Shuffle, along with an iPod+HP Mini that was announced in June.

At the same time, however, HP had been losing key distribution points, as RadioShack announced on July 21 that it had opted to deal directly with Apple to sell the popular music player. The only major retailer left that was selling the HP version of the iPod in substantial volume was Circuit City.

"HP has decided that reselling iPods does not fit within the company's current digital entertainment strategy. As a result, HP plans to stop reselling iPods by the end of this September," Apple spokesperson Natalie Kerris confirmed to BetaNews.

For current HP-branded iPod owners, Kerris said that HP was intending to continue support for the product. "As with all HP products, HP will support the Apple iPod from HP consistent with the terms of HP's limited warranty and award-winning service."

It is not immediately clear how much the loss of HP would affect iPod sales. Apple said that HP iPods have accounted for an average of about five percent of total sales of the player. Apple does not normally speculate on future products or sales of individual products, and did not provide any sales guidance.

The deal is not a complete loss for Apple, however, as HP will continue to bundle the iTunes software with its PCs for the foreseeable future.

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By mjm01010101

posted Jul 29, 2005 - 7:44 PM

I suspected this many moons ago. The whole idea that HP has an "invent" logo and they are rebranding is silly.

I'm amazed that HP made up 5% of apple's sales of ipods. That is somewhat significant.

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Jul 29, 2005 - 5:36 PM

the sad part about the whole thing is that they still will have the iTunes software on the computer. I still will not recommend it. If the remove the iTunes software. THen I will start supporting them more. I have to remove it off people computers when the bring it in for servicing.

Score: 0

By tmservo

edited Jul 31, 2005 - 1:24 AM

So, what is so bad about Itunes that you "have" to remove it off of people's computer? What reason do you provide them? It's neither virus, nore spyware.. and comparison to other music management systems (of which there are many, from Musicmatch to MediaPlayer, WinAmp, etc.) I can't find something so terrible about it that you "have to remove it" before you service a machine.. heck, if I were your customer, and I knew you'd remove software without asking.. I wouldn't come back.

Score: 0

By school1012

posted Jul 31, 2005 - 2:24 PM

1-It loads itself in startup, makeing the computer run slow. WMP does not do this.
2-Reassociates all files to itself without asking.
3-Is a HUGE memory hog.
4-Looks for wireless signals to transmit audio files. (This feature allows me to do war driving and access other users iTunes programs, allowing me to copy all songs or delete them.)

Score: 0

By mjm01010101

posted Jul 31, 2005 - 7:50 PM

"2-Reassociates all files to itself without asking."

This drives me nuts, and it's why I advise all my clients not to use the software.

Score: 0

By yohimbe9

posted Aug 1, 2005 - 8:03 AM

I've been using iTunes on Windows since it came out and have never had a problem with the file association. Under Edit, Preferences, General just make sure that "Use iTunes as the default player for audio files" is unchecked. As for starting up with Windows, that's not completely true. There is the iPodService which you can set to manual which I do, but whenever I see it running it does take a whopping 750K of RAM. As for the GUI itself, it can be a little slow, I'll admit that, but that's a preference of the end user to determine. I still use Winamp to play my singles but for regular albums/playlists I use iTunes all the way.