So there’s been a bit of a war of words between Mr. Bill Gates and Mr. Steve Jobs regarding personal video players. According to this article, Jobs feels that a video player would be less useful than an iPod – but Gates counters by saying that his kids would enjoy watching videos in the backseat of his car. (As an aside, isn’t Gates rich enough to have DVD systems in all of his 1,394 cars?)
I gotta say, I agree with Jobs on this one. I think portable music players work because you don’t have to watch the screen the whole time. It’s a sensory experience, but not one that totally surrounds you. For kids? Well, there is already a very low-end video player of sorts for kids. But I don’t think I’d trust a kid with a $500 piece of equipment – would you? That thing would have to be built like a tank.
I think we’re far off from personal video players becoming popular. The breaking point will be when advertisers figure out a clever way to use them.
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