User:DFlhb/Digital hub strategy

In the 2000s, Apple pursued a digital hub strategy for the Mac. The strategy was first announced at the Macworld Expo in January 2001. It was inspired by the "consumer-electronics-plus" concept that Bill Gates had promoted since 2000; Gates had not yet brought the concept to market; Apple rushed to offer an alternative, to lessen the risk of Microsoft cementing its dominance over the computer industry, and extending it to a potential dominance over computer peripherals.

Jobs began to market the Mac as the "hub" for users' "digital lifestyles, where they could store, create and edit music, photos, movies, and other multimedia content. The Mac would allow users to sync media from, too, and between their other digital devices (cameras, video camcorders, portable music players, writable optical discs, and personal digital assistants).

In 2001, Apple released iTunes, which let users "rip, mix, [and] burn" audio CDs. iTunes was followed later that year with the iPod, which could sync songs and playlists from iTunes, and play music on the go. Apple also released iPhoto, iMovie, and other applications to help users organize, view, and create digital content; these applications were later marketed as the iLife suite.

The strategy became obsolete after the democratisation of high-speed home internet and cellular networks, which enabled the rise of cloud computing. Another factor was the development of powerful smartphones, with more capable user interfaces, which allowed users to manipulate their data more conveniently and on-the-go, without being dependent on personal computers. In a 2011 keynote, Jobs "demoted" the Mac to "just another device", when he introduced iCloud.

Background
Apple's digital hub strategy can be traced back to the late 1990s. Microsoft Windows represented upwards of 90% of the personal computer market.

Apple had lost its chance to compete with Microsoft for dominance over the overall personal computer market, but it still had significant popularity among creative professionals, with its QuickTime framework and video format. In 1999, after Panasonic, Sony and JVC popularised camcorders, Jobs saw the niche as an opportunity, and unveiled the iMac DV alongside iMovie, a video editing application that could be used to easily produce home movies. Jobs' prediction of a "digital video revolution" failed to materialise.

At the CES trade show in 2000, Bill Gates promoted vision of a new "consumer-electronics-plus" era. This vision involved Windows PCs being adopted as a "home media centers", which would integrate with all other consumer electronics in users' homes (televisions, telephones, hi-fi systems, portable music players, and Pocket PCs), with Microsoft software being used to integrate these devices. This threatened to extend Microsoft's dominance of the PC industry into dominance over the far larger consumer electronics industry. Apple executives Avie Tevanian and Jon Rubinstein heard of the speech, and presented the idea to Steve Jobs, who reacted with: "Shouldn't we be doing this? We can't let Microsoft do it. They'll just screw it up!"

iTunes and iPod
Apple's riposte was focused on the music industry, with iTunes.

iLife
In January 2003, Apple bundled iTunes 3, and the new iMovie 3, iPhoto 2, and iDVD 3 into a new $49 software bundle, iLife. The first three applications remained downloadable for free on Apple's website, but iDVD 3 could only be obtained through the paid bundle.

In 2003, Apple entered into a partnership with digital video recorder vendor TiVo. TiVo adopted Apple's Rendezvous networking protocol, and made made a special Mac app that would connect link the Mac and the TiVo DVR. This allowed users to stream their iTunes library and playlists on their television, and to watch a slideshow of photos stored on their Mac.

Information hub
In late 2002, Apple released iCal 1.0 and a public beta of iSync. Macworld 's Christopher Breen commented that Apple was expanding the multimedia hub into an information hub.


 * Ties with iPhone, later.