Death of the Apple Halo Effect?

August 3rd, 2009.

Every iPhone and iPod Touch owner I know hates iTunes. Apple should take notice.

I think iTunes has become the main interaction platform for Apple. Given the popularity of the iPod line and iPhone, combined with iTunes for both Windows and Mac OS X, I’d bet more hours are spent using iTunes than Finder every day.

As with the App Store, Apple seems to be stumbling over itself with the iTunes experience. They need to slow down, reset, and rethink the experience promised by the Apple brand.

We know that iTunes is slow. The UI is inconsistent. The store feels completely alien to the main UI and experience. The app does far too much, plays too many roles too slowly. iTunes is more Wal-Mart than Apple Store.

People tolerate iTunes because it isn’t unbearable. It does work, after all. We all know the flaws I’ve mentioned and begrudgingly accept them because iTunes is the only choice we have. Another case of Software Stockholm Syndrome, I guess?

But here are two new (to me) insights.

  1. iTunes focuses on multiple mobile devices paired to one computer rather than treating all Apple machines as peers. If nothing else, Apple should invert the model they currently use. Instead of one machine and one or more peripherals, they should focus on the more common case of one device and multiple computers.
  2. Syncing a device to iTunes gets more painful every day, pushing users away from iTunes. Syncing a single podcast from iTunes to an iPhone takes fifteen minutes. It’s painful. This is a big threat the the Apple halo effect.

Mobile devices are for mobile people. Most of us operate in at least two computer-focused environments: home and work. Apple lets us buy, download, and sync content (apps, podcasts, audio, video) on a single computer, but on multiple iPhones or iPods. We still can’t easily add content – with or without DRM – to our devices from work and home. Aside from risky hacks to trick the phone into seeing multiple libraries as one, there are no practical ways to keep the whole digital lifestyle in sync.

My wife has stopped plugging her iPhone into her computer. In fact, she’s stopped opening her computer, save for writing posts on her blog. I asked why.

“I can do everything I need to do on the iPhone. I can get podcasts and music and apps, and iTunes freaking sucks, so why bother?”

The Apple lifestyle brand and experience is amazing when it’s strong, but like so many other things, it’s a bubble. iTunes is a thorn. Apple peripherals once caused a halo effect, but as they get better and iTunes gets worse, the iPhone and iPod Touch might cannibalize the Apple (desktop, laptop) computer market for lifestyle users.

  1. Jesse commented:

    These are great points, especially about the inversion of the computer/phone many-to-one. I foolishly figured that syncing ONLY my contacts with two computers would be straightforward. Silly human. Now I have 2 of every contact and for awhile I had 4 of every contact.

    Also, ever use a storage device for your iTunes (like external RAID or NFS mount)? Ever have that connection have an issue? I don’t think this is a minor issue either, considering how big video files are.

    Oh, while we’re on this topic, the AppleTV UI is simply horrific.

    August 5th, 2009 - 1:54 pm

  2. tobyjoe commented:

    According to new info published by AdMob, only 7% of users install apps via iTunes. The rest go through their phone. Goodbye, halo?

    August 11th, 2009 - 5:29 pm

  3. MattjDrake commented:

    I dunno – I think it has more to do with the way the app store is presented on the phone. It is right there and really lends itself to the impulse buy. In my experiences users do not care that about about the kinds of problems more techno savvy people worry about.

    August 11th, 2009 - 5:50 pm

  4. tobyjoe commented:

    My wife isn’t “techno savvy” and hates iTunes. Users are avoiding iTunes because the experience is sucky.

    I also think it’s strange to contrast “users” and “techno savvy people” as a baseline. Savvy is a gradient, sure, but a lot of Apple users are quite aware of the way (Apple) tech *should* look, feel, and operate.

    You’re definitely right that iTunes *works* though. It’s a point I made in the article, and AAPL profits prove it. Still… 7% of apps purchased through iTunes?

    And not a single iPhone developer I know has the tiniest amount of love for the App Store…

    August 12th, 2009 - 11:15 am

  5. Joao Carvalhinho commented:

    Well… this might change somewhat with the work that PALM PRE put forward on its OS and will surelly be transposed to everyone…sooner or later… the integration of contacts/music/etc in the cloud, i.e.in “Mobile Me” service, might just do the trick to keep all sync. Either way, i reckon user synch via usb will end with ipodtouch, resisting only for “Ipod classic” designs, that, 1- are small and quick to synch only music, 2- are megabig and the user already expects it to take long.

    Thats my 2 cents.

    August 20th, 2009 - 2:15 pm

  6. tobyjoe commented:

    Death of the Apple Halo Effect? http://bit.ly/H8Fgr

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 3rd, 2009 - 2:22 pm

  7. benoit311080 commented:

    Death of the Apple Halo Effect? http://bit.ly/H8Fgr (via @tobyjoe) : very good critic about iTunes !

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 3rd, 2009 - 3:56 pm

  8. jegb commented:

    App store = walmart, moving to device centric world and Death of the Apple Halo Effect? http://bit.ly/H8Fgr (via @tobyjoe)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 4th, 2009 - 12:53 am

  9. Özgür Köy commented:

    imho, one better sentence to start with would be like this: "most iphone-touch owners on non-osX platforms… " . i like itunes and im not gay.

    This comment was originally posted on FriendFeed

    August 5th, 2009 - 8:43 am

  10. anjali28 commented:

    @higgis hey fanboy, your thoughts? Death of the Apple Halo effect: http://bit.ly/19Sc40

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 7th, 2009 - 8:08 am

  11. shoher commented:

    via @RickWebb -> hate iTunes? http://bit.ly/AMQgP [i'm waiting for them to awesomely combine it with me.com]

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 10th, 2009 - 4:17 am

  12. chockenberry commented:

    @PolarBearFarm This sums up the problem with iTunes pretty well: http://bit.ly/1B6qjZ — we all need single device to multiple library sync.

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 11th, 2009 - 6:30 pm

  13. Luís Miguel Silva commented:

    Completamente de acordo!
    O iTunes é uma valente merda!

    Para ouvir música continuo a usar o winamp e só utilizo o iTunes para gerir as músicas do iPhone porque…é a única aplicação que consigo utilizar (as outras são clones merdosos do iTunes)!

    Eu apenas queria gerir as músicas por directórios, tal como faço no PC!

    Mas nãoooo, tenho de as arrastar para o iTunes e esperar que ele as mostre como eu quero.

    Além do mais, a impossibilidade de sincronizar em mais do que um aparelho é uma valente…MERDA! :o

    Sempre que tenho de o ligar noutro PC acabo por limpar todas as músicas e fotos do iPhone! :o

    Bah…

    This comment was originally posted on Spinning Beachball

    August 19th, 2009 - 6:25 am

  14. Lowjacker commented:

    I want an app that just plays music. And nothing else. http://is.gd/2ofyF

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    August 19th, 2009 - 6:29 am