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Dec 18,2005 - Dec 25,2005 |
iPod sound too good to be true
Apple competitors challenge hegemony of player by introducing lesser-quality players
By Alessandro Cancian
Originally Published: 2004-10-24
The Christmas gift rush has begun, and we can reasonably expect the iPod to remain one of the best-selling gadgets to end up under a tree. Having acquired the status of a cult object, Apple's small player now represents 92.1 percent of the market of hard-drive-based music players, up from 82.2 percent one year ago.
Impressive figures, all the more so if one considers the over two million units sold in the last quarter, which will surely increase when the deal with HP goes ahead. This is not due to a lack of competitors, on the contrary: there are plenty of models on the market, ranging from Dell to Creative, from Sony to SamSung, etc. Every major manufacturer is trying to establish a position in what is perceived as a rapidly evolving sector. Dethroning the iPod, however, will not be easy, and even if market shares were to change slightly in favour of the competitors, this would be just a physiological adjustment.
Dell is challenging iPod as part of a plan to expand its brand name in the consumer electronics market. The PC maker last week launched a diminutive version of its Dell Digital Jukebox portable music player, dubbed the Pocket DJ 5, along with an updated Dell DJ 20 music player. Virgin Electronics also made its play lately with the $249 Virgin Player, a digital audio player with a 5GB hard disk. The device supports MP3 and WMA music formats and is capable of working with various digital music services. Other manufacturers have introduced, or will soon, their new models, but to date no one has come up with an "iPod killer".
Cutting prices or adding features has not produced big results, but it must be said that nobody has managed to create a product cooler than Apple's through design and marketing.
The iTunes-iPod integration has certainly played a fundamental role right from the start, and its effects are felt even today.
Over the past two years, Apple has continued to invest heavily in promoting its player, but it also used effective ads to establish the iPod as synonymous of digital music.
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