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It's a small war after all. Last week, three new tiny music players were introduced to challenge Apple's popular iPod mini in a battle that should ring up cash registers this holiday season. The players all hold about 1,000 songs, cost between US$200 and $300 and are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Moreover, with their bright colors and slick designs, they're as much fashion accessory and tech gadget.
Re: New Minis Skirt iPod's Max Market
Posted by: rgholmes 2004-10-21 18:20:33 In reply to: Art Janik
Most of the music on iPods is from alternative sources. The stores are a drop in the ocean for music sales so it stands to reason that not all ipod users use the store.
Besides, the other stores don't have the same user experience.
>> In addition, the players are not tied to the iTunes downloading service like the iPod. Songs can be bought and transferred to players from a variety of sources, including Napster, MusicMatch, WindowsMedia Player and the companies' proprietary download engines.
Besides, the other stores don't have the same user experience.
>> In addition, the players are not tied to the iTunes downloading service like the iPod. Songs can be bought and transferred to players from a variety of sources, including Napster, MusicMatch, WindowsMedia Player and the companies' proprietary download engines.
People shouldn't be so quick to give too much credit to Virgin - after all, in the US, they have something like 7 retail stores - there are almost as many "MINI" Apple stores already. Virgin sold their record label a long time ago - their mobile phone service is still piggybacked on Sprints(I think) lines and right now, they have a huge churn rate.
Since no one can buy the HDD's cheaper than Apple and unless someone is willing to lose $100 per player - right now, they cannot win much of Apple's market share - why? THere's nothing really compelling about the competition. Right now, consumers have to exaplin why they didn't buy an ipod - couldn't afford the extra $10 to $50 dollars to buy the "best?" - wanted an extra GB of HDD space (Yea, that's a real sexy reason)?
It's one thing if you're talking about a $50k sports car versus a $30k car - people understand the compromise but $50? People spend that much difference on dinner.
And for $50 more, you can get the 15 GB ipod whch is only about .5 inches thicker so the storage differential is rather pointless - so it comes back to having to explain why you didn't buy an ipod - so why not just buy an ipod?
Since no one can buy the HDD's cheaper than Apple and unless someone is willing to lose $100 per player - right now, they cannot win much of Apple's market share - why? THere's nothing really compelling about the competition. Right now, consumers have to exaplin why they didn't buy an ipod - couldn't afford the extra $10 to $50 dollars to buy the "best?" - wanted an extra GB of HDD space (Yea, that's a real sexy reason)?
It's one thing if you're talking about a $50k sports car versus a $30k car - people understand the compromise but $50? People spend that much difference on dinner.
And for $50 more, you can get the 15 GB ipod whch is only about .5 inches thicker so the storage differential is rather pointless - so it comes back to having to explain why you didn't buy an ipod - so why not just buy an ipod?
"It's tough to be a one-trick pony like Apple...."
One-Trick Pony??? Is this guy serious?
One-Trick Pony??? Is this guy serious?
