Apple death spiral watch.

] The story sounds eerily familiar.
]
] The iPod cannot play songs from most other stores, and
] Apple's iTunes store won't sell songs for other players.
] Mr. Gates argues that consumers ultimately will want more
] choices.
]
] Mr. Jobs rejects the comparison between the music players
] and computers. The Macintosh had an uphill battle, Apple
] says, because so many corporate customers already had
] applications based on Microsoft's operating system that
] they didn't want to abandon. By contrast, Apple's iTunes
] Music Store sells pretty much the same songs that the
] others do, but they cannot be moved onto non-Apple
] portable devices.
]
] What happens next Christmas and beyond, however, is a
] matter of considerable debate. Microsoft fans say that
] other music players will begin to match Apple's features
] and styling, and with lower prices. They suggest that
] consumers, meanwhile, will want to buy music from stores
] other than iTunes.
]
] "Over time, proprietary standards always lose because
] industry standards always win because you get more for
] less," said Michael A. George, the general manager of
] Dell's consumer business.
]
] BUT Geoff Moore, who articulated the platform strategy in
] his 1999 book "Crossing the Chasm," argues that Apple is
] the rare company that should not follow his advice. Mr.
] Jobs, he said, has built the company around
] idiosyncratic, premium-priced products that gain appeal
] in part from their splendid isolation.

Geoff Moore just lost a lot of credibility for me. Apple is fucked. If you buy a Macintosh computer you will only be able to buy an ipod. If you buy an ipod you will not be able to use subscription music services. The end result will be that you simply cannot listen to the music that you want to listen to. Period. Because you bought a mac. I'm already starting to regret making the switch. Buying a mac will limit your choices for music as it did for video games in the 80s. That will absolutely kill OSX. Apple will be right back where it was in 1998 in 2008.

The New York Times : Music Wars - Apple vs. MS