iPod at its peak
Before Christmas, a co-worker told me he had put iPod nano's on layway for his two kids as their big Christmas gift. But as Christmas got closer he was talking to his older son (age 15) about iPods and his son said that he would rather have a Playstation Portable (PSP) because it plays music too but also plays movies and the best video games. Upon hearing this, his younger sister (about 10) said that was what she wanted too. So the layaway order for the iPods was cancelled and the kids got PSP's.
I think that was a really big turning point. The iPod has gone from being so cool that you have to have it, to coming up short on features. Yes, the new ones play video that you download from iTunes, but how long will people be satisfied with something that only plays music and tiny videos?
The Palm went through this. For a while it was the hot thing and every business person needed one. They "couldn't live" without their Palms. I still feel that way about mine and for a while Palm seemed unstoppable. But then Dell and HP took huge chunks of market share by selling more advanced (and more expensive) handheld devices that were almost like tiny laptops (with Microsoft Windows and Office even). Now some people have Blackberries, some have RAZR phones with cameras. Palm has some phones and has licensed its operating system to other phone makers, but a Palm isn't a must-have. Having a simple, fairly inexpensive device, that only stores phone numbers and your calendar seems like a waste of pocket real estate.
Take a blackberry, RAZR, or even a Palm and add a tiny 20 GB hard drive and who needs an iPod anymore? Maybe you won't even need the hard drive, maybe you can just get songs wirelessly from music services, satellite, or even your home computer. Apple is still the top of the heap, but I see them getting left behind. The iPod has been a very successful mp3 player, but I don't know if people will settle for mp3 players for much longer. And Apple can't change the iPod too much without it not really being an iPod anymore.
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Comments (5)
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Posted by Jeb | January 11, 2006 9:00 PM
I watched the MacWorld keynote address, Jobs said that 14 MILLION iPods were sold last quarter alone. The problem with PSPs is that the cost adds up quickly. Most games are $50, UMDs are $30. I've probably spent $100 on various cases, downloads, and accesories for my iPod. People with PSPs end up spending a LOT more. Plus, you can only fit about 20 songs on the PSPs flash drive. And hard drives cost about $200 each. Not cost effective at all. PSPs are a rich kid's toy.
Posted by Eric | January 11, 2006 9:01 PM
I agree Sony gouges its customers by having them buy new versions (on a proprietary disc format) of movies they already own and extra memory. And the cost of games is ridiculous.
But the Walkman was big when it came out and then it kind of disappeared. Then portable CD players came out and were big for a while before they faded too.
A guy asked me why people buy iPods instead of other mp3 players and I said the magic of iTunes doing everything from ripping, burning, buying, and organizing is something nobody else offers and it only works with iPods. And they look cool. And Apple's volume lets them keep prices just barely higher than their competition.
Posted by UT | January 11, 2006 11:21 PM
looks are one of i-Pods best qualities, like all of Apple's other newer computers - they are computers of the future. whereas the other mp3 players i have seen do not look nearly as simplistic and edgy. design is a key element in attracting buyers. (who wants a huge ugly gray box on their desk?)
Posted by Nicole | January 12, 2006 8:51 AM
Did you know that the iPod video was built to the Golden Ratio?
Posted by Eric | January 14, 2006 4:09 PM