apple goes gangsta with 50 cent?

[disciple]

Rap star 50 Cent is entering the world of technology and is currently in negotiations with Apple's CEO Steve Jobs to produce a line of affordable home computers to inner-city residents.

According to a recent article in Forbes, 50 Cent, born Curtis Jackson and his high powered manager Chris Lighty of Violator management, are negotiating the branding deal with the computer /software giant.

"I'm creating a foundation that will be around for a long time, because fame can come and go or get lost in the lifestyle and the splurging," Fifty Cent explained to Forbes. "I never got into it for the music. I got into it for the business."

"He [Jobs] is setting a new standard in the music business," Lighty added. "Let's just say we get each other."[/url]

http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=5798

hmm wonder if they gonna call it the iCrack ?

[Spazosaurus]

I wonder what this line of computers would be like. Would they put some sort of artwork on them and instead of calling them widgets, call them gangster apps?

[einstien101]

g-pod

[Arcmanov]

I've always said from day one that 50 Cent's involvement in Hip-Hop was never good for the music.
If he was so 'concerned' about the inner-city, he woulda done that for free, not try to make more money again.
Anyway, that is for another forum.

On topic: Apple could have done this whenever they wanted to, but apparently only 50 Cent could sell computers
to inner-city residents right?

What a load of absolute, unmitigated, b******t!!!
This deal is strictly about the bottom line.  Full stop.



Moderator Edit: Language...

[greyfox]

"I never got into it for the music. I got into it for the business."

basically this is the reason why i stopped liking his music.  no soul in it, just alot of money making.  money does change ppl.

[disciple]

as far as apple goes, it has never been 'commodity'.. it's been about image, about coolness.. about hardware costing 10-20% more than its competitors.

so them aimin at a budget pc.. i just doh see it..  *shrugs shoulders*

UNLESS the pc eh go be tha affordable in the first place, but they hopin to bank on the fact that the urban hip-hop market is very trend oriented, and by associatin with 50, they gonna get all the street cred they need and ghetto kids go buy, beg, borrow and steal to get it anyway

sigh.. product placement.. i thought i saw it all with mariah carey sittin on a man lap over on intel homepage the other day.... sex to sell cpus, yes.. lol

personally, if this pulls through, i would have lost a lot of respect for apple..  not an affront to hip-hop, but there are many more positive artists they can ally themselves with.. the roots, talib kweli, mos-def..   etc.. dammit lol !     

with regards to him (50 cent), i mean.. yuh cah fault him for being a businessman... his product is himself, and as with every product, it has a shelf life..
so make hay while the sun shines.. 

[W1nTry]

Well actually those Mac Mini's (real intellimac) ain't so expensive and they save on space BIG time. I have been an apple user fro the days of the Apple IIe (yeah monochrome 13" screen with 1 colour, GREEN and a 5&1/4" floppy drives) but that aside, i've always admired the fact that the hardware requirements of a Mac were less than a PC for the same titles. Like say Decent needed a 266MHz PII with 64MB ram etc, to run, the apple needed nothing more than a 150MHz with 32MB ram etc. I mean hardware wise, they were superior back in the day which warranted the price premium. But as X86 marched along at an unbeatable pace eventually the hardware was no longer cut and dry better or worse. But a Mac always ran smoother than any Windows box i've used and they were better looking and EXTREMELY easy to use (Real selling point). Now with X86 marchitecture they can drop the prices significantly and still provide (hopefully) a decent product that not only runs well (read better than windows) but also is decently priced. I would have to guess they could easily put a celeron in a Mac mini, but with the prices of Intel chips set to fall they could lime with 'Core solo' and build a decent 300USD machine. If they built a little iMac maybe 500 with a 12-14" LCD. And trust me those apple displays are excellent. Let's face it, when it comes to looks and space saving, apple wins BAR NONE. No alienware or falcon northwest looks better than say a G5 and they can be comparable in price and specs. I agree that this venture is a moneymaking one and sure, 50 should donate these budget machines to inner city kids, but as someone said "money changes ppl"

[disciple]

yeh the mac mini eh that expensive.. compared to their previous offerings..     is still 600us
then you have to get a monitor and keyboard


a entry level dell will set you back around 299 if you go on a good day ( granted, these are with celerons , to the mini's core solo 1.5 and integrated gfx..  for 679 at dell  today, you gettin a 2.8 ghz dual core pentium,  dedicated graphics card, larger hard drive and a 15" lcd AND a mouse)..    but the dells ugly as sin and come with xp


so the mini is more of a cheap apple, than a cheap machine...   

but i agree on the OS..  i haven't used a mac in years, but osX looks gorgeous, is stable, and is ease of use personified....   however, the lack of games is crucial..   how you gonna market it to gangstas-in-da-makin if you cah run GTA?  lol ( i suppose with boot camp, is a non-issue now.. just slap xp on it)

hardware design is pretty good as well... aesthetically, its very tasteful, understated, clean.. no one comes close..   
powerbooks always been sexy to me..


with regards to charity and money changin him, however...  i didn't think he would. i mean.. he used to sell crack.. lol. now if thas not the opposite of charity, i dunno what is