Gibson Firebird X, Jealous Of iPhones, Gets Its Own App Store

Gibson Firebird X App Store

Off Topic: Gibson has announced an App Store for guitars – if yours happens to be a Gibson Firebird X.

And reading their marketing info on the Gibson Firebird X app store, you can almost hear a bit of iOS envy:

The entire Firebird X system is designed to a new Gibson standard which will allow other companies to develop hardware and applications that can integrate with any guitar that uses this standard, including the Firebird X.

Gibson will set up an authorized store – very much like the Apple iPhone/iPad environment – where all vendors can sell their applications, which we will verify are compliant with our system. Like Apple, this involves a sophisticated e-commerce site that removes the hassle and overhead for a development company and just generates a pure revenue stream for the developer.

It is our intention to roll this out to hundreds of thousands of guitars in different price points, giving all fans and consumers the ability to take advantage of this new technology. This eco-system, with a well-specified and published Gibson environment, will open up thousands of enhancements for our customers.

Product enhancements, both paid and free, will be very easy to install via a simple firmware update option in our Tone Editor software. The firmware is downloadable, and updates and upgrades take about a minute.

Don’t expect the Gibson Firebird X app store to be a big hit, at least from the start. The Firebird X retails for about $4,000, which is a pretty big barrier to adoption. Apps for the Firebird X are likely to have to be expensive, too, because of the limited audience.

If Gibson follows through with its stated plan to push this technology out to guitars at all price levels, though, things will get a lot more interesting.

What do you think of the idea of running apps on your guitar?

16 thoughts on “Gibson Firebird X, Jealous Of iPhones, Gets Its Own App Store

  1. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  2. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  3. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  4. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  5. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  6. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars" Cargo cult mentality.

  7. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  8. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  9. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  10. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  11. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  12. I f*** hate this company. They are ignorant when it comes to technology and business but believe the opposite. They buy up music technology companies and then kill them. Just take a look at the graveyard that is their list of brands page. Mostly dead links listing brands they acquired and didn't know what the hell to do with. http://www.gibson.com/press/brands.html If Firebird X does not take off in a year, trust me, they will ditch it. They have no patience when it comes to developing technologies. Just like when they killed off Opcode and Oberheim. I can imagine the meetings that kicked this off. "How can we be successful as Apple?" "They have an app store. We should have an app store! For guitars!" Cargo cult mentality.

  13. Still impressed by the MIDI-equipped Les Paul from a couple of years ago that came with a proprietary MIDI connector but no cable – and vendors couldn't get the cable.

  14. Another brilliant idea on par with Gibson's Jimi Hendrix signature strat copy. I highly doubt any quality developers will bother creating apps for this platform – the target market for it will be microscopic.

  15. I wondered exactly what this guitar was all about.

    From the Gibson site, I found that its features are Revolutionary(TM). The Revolutionary(TM) features allow you to Morph(TM) from Revolutionary Sound(TM) to Revolutionary Sound(TM), resulting in Groundbreaking Possibilities(TM). And what's more, this Revolutionary(TM) guitar is Optimized for Musical Applications(TM), Interconnections(TM), and Interfacing(TM). These are Revolutionary(TM), too.

    Wow. I can see the line forming now.

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