I have been following the introduction of iTunes and iTMS on Windows somewhat closely. It seems that there are quite a few user reviews I have read that see the real value in these two things and really are enjoying their use (possibly enough to consider an iPod, which I would say is this releases main thrust). Secondly, there are a bunch of users complaining about iTunes performance, appearance, and adherence to Windows GUI standards (hard to even mention this as there really aren’t many).
Apple surely will improve iTunes performance under Windows if it believes this will help their cause to sell more iPods. After all, they admit the music store is not making money, but all of this is designed as a driver to sell iPods and the sale of music, if profitable, is a nice second. It all melds together to make a nice little bump to Apple’s bottom line and pushes Apple closer to being a digital media company.
Hmmm…How to address the Windows GUI thing? Windows users are typically much more willing to accept horrible GUI design than Apple users. This is not to say iTunes is by any means horrible (I personally love it’s look), but it is non-standard to the Windows world. However, unlike Apple, Microsoft has never really pushed any type of a user interface standard which is probably why Windows apps all look and behave somewhat differently. There is no standard. Apple wants people who like it’s UI, which is on display on many Windows systems right now, to begin thinking differently. They may think, “I like this program and the iPod. Now why am I still using Windows?”. Of course, this will be somewhat rare and take some exposure to what Apple may provide, but maybe they just decide to wander in to their local Apple Store to see what is with this other platform…
