REAL Evangelists vs APPLE Evangelists

Thanks Stephen, for alerting us that Real Networks is feeling the wrath of Apple/iPod evangelists.

The conversation happening at Real's Freedom of Music website is getting vicious as Apple evangelists are showing up in droves to flame Real for picking a fight with Apple.

Real Networks fired the first salvo with this attack:

"Your company (Apple) has long stood for innovation and open competition. We're asking that you...support the right of your own customers to make their own choices about where they buy music for the iPod. We want Freedom of Music Choice! Don't lock us in to purchasing digital music from one source. That's bad for competition. It will stifle innovation. And it will slow the adoption of digital music devices like the iPod." [source: Real’s online petition against Apple]

One Apple supporter retaliated by writing,

"You people (Real Networks) are wrong, wrong, wrong. If we wanted 'choices' like yours, they wouldn't have to be foisted on us. Most of us, given a real choice, would rather see you and your tactics go away. 'Competition' doesn't give you any right to reverse-engineer when you feel like it, but come down on those that hack into your IP rights. It's theft, pure and simple."

Another Apple evangelist wrote,

"I choose to use a Macintosh. Why won't Real support me? Rhapsody doesn't work on the Mac. So even if I was interested in buying music from Real, I can't do it." [soure: news.com article]

In an online battle pitting REAL Evangelists versus APPLE Evangelists … I’ll take the APPLE Evangelists any day. Apple clearly has fostered a more passionate and dedicated following from its users than Real Networks ever will.

Apple essentially wrote the book on creating a movement to build a firewall against the Microsoft juggernaut. With their Freedom of Choice movement, Real Networks is trying to take a page out of the Apple movement playbook but Real may have underestimated the power of Mac evangelists.

So, did Real misstep by calling out Apple directly and not focusing on the more global issue/movement of promoting universal digital music formats?

Is it true Real’s Rhapsody music service isn’t Mac-compatible?

Will Dick make up with Jane on Search for Tomorrow?

Will johnmoore get called out for flip-flopping on this issue?

Comments

[Andreas]

Real doesn’t have the reputation it needs to be seen as an advocate for open source. For years they have made it as hard as possible to download their own free media player, instead pushing a proprietary content subscription model. The Real music store is a jump on a bandwagon that was flawed fromday one. Releasing digital music in a format unsupported by any of the digital players out there can hardly been described as a marketing master stroke. Blaming anybody but themselves for that fact wasn’t the smartest follow up.

What Real currently experiences is a discrepancy between their internal brand perception, ‘we’re fighting for the rights of the consumer’, and their external brand perception, ‘you’re being dishonest, self serving and incompetent’. The result? Egg on Real’s face and an already struggling brand being even more marginalised.

Conversations are powerful stuff. But, as Real have found out, they are impossible to direct. If you enter the fray, make sure that you’ve got the goods to back up what you say.

[Tiff]

Yes, it's true, Rhapsody doesn't work on the Mac. Or Linux, for that matter. So apparently, for Real, having "choice" really means, "You have to use Windows."

Secondly, Real is somehow managing to convince media types covering this pissing match that the iPod only supports music purchased in the iTunes Music store. This is patently false. The iPod and iTunes support almost all non-DRMed music files (Ogg Vorbis being the notable exception). It's just that the only form of DRM the iPod and iTunes support is Apple's FairPlay.

Thirdly, these are awfully big words coming from Rob Glaser, who is known for making the RealPlayer interface as complex and deceptive as possible to trick users into not opting-out of allowing Real to sell their personal information.

[Stephen Macklin]

Real continues to take a drubbing in the press. Forbes.com calls their attack on Apple a "tactical mistake."