Why the iPod is Losing its Cool 563
An anonymous reader writes "The Guardian Unlimited has a provocative article on the recent decline in iPod sales: 'Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1 million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst.'"
60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
From the article:
There doesn't seem so much of a crack in any edifice as much as there's ultimately a saturation of the marketplace. At some point, pretty much everyone who wants an iPod gets one, and by now that's pretty much done (anyone hear any recent "I want an iPod" whines from anyone?).
Jobs (from Apple) isn't letting the grass grow ... with his
As seen in a previous slashdot discussion (the Amazon Unbox article [slashdot.org]) on video download, it isn't going to happen, or is at least unlikely. There is a slew of articles and surveys showing consumers, especially the target demographic of "younger folk" aren't that interested in long (full length features) videos. Video downloads, management, etc., is just a messier beast for consumers, enough so it's a long way from emergent (storage considerations, price, quality of small devices, battery power for video, DRM, download times, backups, etc.).
Also, consumers are getting hip to the snake oil that is iTunes: (from the article)
Yeah, initially all were in love with the iPod because for the return on effort, it seemed like magic. Consumers eventually get tired of jumping through even the tiniest of hoops to continue "enjoying" their gadgets. They want to turn it on, and not have to worry that the computer from which they're trying to transfer music is "iTunes anointed" or not. DRM-fatigue, finally, sets in (it's about time!).
This is the SONY walkman all over again, then the SONY CD walkman... it's done. It's hard to imagine quantum leaps of coolness and convenience beyond an iPod or video iPod. The curve had to level, there just isn't any there there. Apple should be happy with what they've done, but I don't think this is a growth niche any longer.
Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
The majority of iPod users use MP3s, which aren't affected by DRM. And DRM isn't anything at all new to iPod, either. There's no reason to assume the correlation that you take as a given. Any random anti-DRM screed is sure to get modded +5 on Slashdot, but you should put in the extra work and have it at least make some kind of sense.
And it isn't a scientific survey, but every person I know who's technologically savvy enough to be downloading MP3s is also downloadings .avi's. Here in China MP4 compliance is a big selling point for cell phones, PDAs, and other random gadgets. I gotta believe it's the same in the US. Amazon may not be impressing people, but that has more to do with the price than the fundamental concept.
Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
Music, unlike video, requires only one sense (hearing) and can be passive while one is doing other things.
You can listen to music while you browse the web, jog, write code.
You can't really watch a video using a portable device while doing those things. (other than porn...)
It can work though for people who travel a lot in public transportation.
That niche is partly filled by portable gaming which is also an activity that requires your attention.
Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:4, Funny)
Unless you're impotent, watching porn while jogging doesn't sound like a comfortable thing to do. Especially when you're wearing those jogging pants.
"Dude is that your....??"
"That's my ehm IPOD sticking out! That's right"
Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Back when I bought music, it was mostly so that I could listen to it, and the radio was for background. That was back before the web and before video/DVD. Who "just listens" to music anymore? (And if I am just listening to music, it won't be to some compressed crap on tinny earbuds, but to vinyl or CD over real speakers.)
Nowadays, I fill the "do something else and not get bored" niche with books-on-tape (or disc), from the li
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Everyone I have seen using their Ipod is using WHILE doing other things - it's not a 'lets sit around the house and listen to music' - so video doesn't fit into this model at all.
While I agree that a video iPod is dead in the water, the i
Portable movies pointless (Score:4, Insightful)
In my opinion, portable video will never be really as successful as portable music.
I think you're right, and I think Apple knows this, which is probably why each new Mac Mini (now with Front Row, a remote control and TV output) has been inching closer and closer to the TV set. I suspect people will download videos via iTunes just so they can watch them on TV almost instantly, without the fuss of having to leave the house, probably ignoring whether they can watch them on their iPod or not.
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Indeed. It's hard to think of a better HTPC than a 1.66Ghz Core Duo Mini running Windows MCE.
And as soon as the Apple resellers wake up and stop trying to flog the old Minis for a paltry $10 less than a new one from Apple, I'll be buying one to do just that.
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Article: 2 quarter down after 17 up (Score:3, Informative)
The article did use a very useful metric: "Tomi Ahonen, a technology brand expert and author, said: 'For the first time the iPod has had two consecutive falls after 17 quarters of growth." And it does answer your question, in the same quarter last year it had experienced some growth rather than two downward
Re:Not just DRM but client fatigue. Free is better (Score:5, Informative)
In your overbearing zeal you either don't know what you are talking about or you are lying. In addition to AAC files from iTMS you also have the choices of mp3, AIFF, and Apple lossless. That is just the audio music formats. You also have video and spoken audio (audio books) as choices. In your excitement to declare the king is dead you should be more careful about your accuracy or face being dismissed as an untrustworthy voice motivated more by spite than knowledge.
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Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Informative)
You missed the point, again. iTunes, by default is set to import CDs to AAC (I forget which bit rate). Changing to mp3 requires the user to go into the scary "Advanced > Importing" tab in the preference pane. MANY people, if not most, don't even notice that their ripping to AAC instead of MP3, since they use the "import" button on their CDs instead of choosing the "Convert Selection to [whatever]" option. The point is, to switch to mp3s you have to:
Only a very small segment of the population are going to go "out of their way" (even if it's a fairly small trip) to switch, and most don't even know it. By the time many people do realize that they're encoding AACs, they've been already working out fine for them on the iPod, so they have no real desire to switch. On top of that, when they DO get interested in learning the difference, they have the entire internet, as well as Apple Computer saying, "AACs are better than MP3s" (which they are).
So no, I would be willing to guess that a good 75% of ALL CD imported tunes on digital music players are AACs. The MP3 is dead, most people don't even know it.
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Yeah, steps 1, 2, and 3 are rocket science for sure. It takes all of three seconds to set that up.
Besides, it's you that's missing the point. The point was that the iPod plays non-DRM mp3 files without issue. The anti-iPod nerds always want to skip past that bit.
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Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:5, Interesting)
You know I'm glad people are finally starting to realise they're being screwed in the ass by DRM. Over the last few months I've been asked various questions by (non technical) family, friends and colleagues that all involve DRM'ed content making things awkward, and not allowing them to do what they want with their legally bought music. I'm happy to tell them why they can't play their iTunes/Napster sourced music wherever they like; hopefully they'll wake up and see where their apathy has got them.
I then mention there are plenty of places people can get all the music they like without DRM, for nothing
Re:60M sold? that's a lot. (Score:4, Funny)
Link please.
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So you can burn and rip all you want, RIAA will not care. Just don't share.
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The hell they don't. They simply have no easy way to prosecute or intimidate anyone for personal burning and ripping, but they would if they could, fair use not withstanding. The RIAA doesn't believe in or accept the legitimacy of fair use anyway, considering how they reneged on their side of the Audio Home Recording Act. The studios themselves have demonstrated that they are perfectly willing to use DRM, as well as other even less savory technolog
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Inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course. Because the iPod only sold 1/3 more in both the first and second quarters than last year. But wait - it's down on last year's Christmas rush sales!!!! It's in decline!! The death of the iPod is here!!!!!!! Oh wait. WTF??
Come on people, your supposed to be geeks and nerds and so inclined to actually care about real figures. Or is that not cool any longer?
Humor on a Sunday (Score:5, Funny)
It's one big advertisement given in the form of a staged interview with Microsoft's general manager of their Windows Digital Media Division. Revel in the humor as he gives choice quotes such as, "iTunes captured some early media interest with their store on the Mac, but I think the Windows platform will be a significant challenge for them." Or "With Windows Media 9 Series, you get faster starts, better quality music, and support for the most devices."
Tee-hee...
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Making a prediction here (Score:5, Interesting)
Let's sit back and enjoy the negative comments from iPod haters wanting to look really cool and outside-the-norm for bashing a popular piece of technology that's left them behind. After all, it's par for course around here--let's not forget the original iPod announcement or the iPod mini discussions which were oh-so-accurate in their future predictions. Ahem.
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You know, air is so overrated. I mean, that's what EVERYONE is breathing.
Some people buy the iPod without any desire to be part of some so-called fad. It is a nice mp3 player after all.
"Fad" not a poorly chosen word, iPod = fashion (Score:5, Informative)
The team that did the survey and focus groups was very quick to point out that this was just a class project, small scale and localized. However it was similar to a pilot program that found interesting results and could be used to justify a larger national study.
(*) I own an iPod, I love it, I would buy another. I own PCs and Macs and use iTunes on both platforms. However I am not religious about music players or operating systems.
(**) Working professionals who have real jobs in industry, under the supervision of a marketing professor who does this sort of thing for rather large firms. This was a class project, not a consulting project.
(***) I was not involved in the project but did I sit in on the presentation of the results. My recollection is that the questions went something like:
Do you own a digital music player?
What models did you consider?
What model did you purchase?
Why did you purchase that model?
etc.
Ecosystem is what is important to me. (Score:4, Interesting)
When I next upgrade it will be an Ipod, not because it is fashionable or faddish or popular, but because there is now a supporting ecosystem. Cars come with IPOD docks, you can get a cheap, nifty running package from Nike that tracks speed/distance while you are listening too music while your run.
In short I think it is the perfect choice for taking my music with me everywhere, moving seamlessly from jogging, to work, to driving cross country. I am just waiting for an 8Gig Nano to make the driving across country more feasable.
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Point 1: They choose $400 gadgets based on fashion.
Point 2: They value the drivel on the radio (I doubt they were missing NPR).
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Thank you for making my prediction come true: "I'm sure the Apple faithful will violently disagree"
Did you following confuse you: "I own an iPod, I love it, I would buy another. I own PCs and Macs and use iTunes on both platforms. However I am not religious about music players
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The reason that a lower number of iPods are being sold this year in comparison to last year is that more people who want an mp3 player have bought one, lowering the number of sales.
The game now is shifting a bit more towards the upgrade cycle and maintaining customer loyalty. For example, I've got a 20gb Zen Touch that I bought 2 years ago; it's a great player with excellent battery life and decent sound, but looking around, I think I'm getting towards the last quarter of it's life cycl
It's about time. (Score:2, Insightful)
Running out of Customers?? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I agree. But it also might be that the iPod is a pretty solid piece of hardware. Even though hard drive capacities increase over time (you can get a bigger iPod next year) the iPod device itself will last a long time with moderate care. I replaced my 2-year-old 3rd gen iPod when the battery failed to hold a charge longer than an hour, not because it was otherwise broken. (And had the battery been easily user-replaceable, I probably would have done that instead.)
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Since they are releasing "upgrades"/features on every generation of iPod - I think it's time for Apple to release a PDA, perhaps integrated into the iPod (since they are making bigger screens for movies anyway).
I would snap one of those up if it played
Right now, I don't think watching movies on a tiny screen is a great incentive for most people, though I'd love to be able to share short clips
No surprise (Score:5, Interesting)
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Not sure how that format lock in is stopping me from doing that, but it seems fairly broken.
Sure, it would be nice if I didn't use iTunes to load junk onto the unit, but at least that lets me keep good control over the menu/title display.
Re:No surprise (Score:5, Insightful)
The mainstream public absolutely doesn't give a crap about iTunes DRM. It's so lax that you never notice it's there (and when people bring up iTunes DRM as a negative point, in almost every case you find that they've never tried it themselves). Most people's music collections are made up of ripped MP3s anyway.
As for the other two points, market saturation and growing competition have been around since the iPod came out in 2001, so that's nothing new. The market was saturated when Apple came to the game, yet they still won (pissing Creative off something awful). It seems the company performs its best when people are assuming they're down for the count. For the last 20 years, armchair pundits have been claiming Apple was dead, their products weren't selling, that "saturation and growing competition" were going to take them out, and so on.
I don't get this pervasive need to always hope for Apple's demise all the time. Without them, it'd be all Microsoft, all the time, with the awful WMA-based "PlaysForSure" dominating your music players and turning them into the typical Microsoft experience--unreliable, weird bugs and quirks, a hundred ugly little pieces of hardware running Microsoft software with no seamless vertical experience like you get from Apple.
Look, new automobiles have freakin' iPod dock ports built into them. The iPod isn't going away anytime soon.
I assume you mean you want it built-in, because the iPod has had built-in recording functionality for years now, accessible with add-ons like the Griffin iTalk.
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AAC and MP3 are also proprietary... which is the reason these codecs are not normally included with OSS linux distros.
Not that iPod users care, mind you.
Duh (Score:5, Insightful)
it's basic business. product lifecycles are virtually all the same. launch, rise, saturation and decline. right now ipod reaching saturation, and it will go into decline sooner or later. that said, it is still very profitable for Apple, and the brand is still stupidly strong. it will most likely stay like that for a few more years at least.
this is news?
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"Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst."
Apple, in many ways, depends on the iPod for its current strength. If the iPod were to suddenly die, Apple would be very, very screwed (the only other product that has mass appeal is the macbooks, and those are not nearly at the same level due to pricing). This is why people have been watching "iPod killers" so closely.
Personally, this is the first time ever that I would not consider an iPod if I had to repla
because one you buy one... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:You'll eventually need new Apple batteries (Score:4, Interesting)
Gasp! (Score:5, Insightful)
Ofcourse (Score:2)
I still haven't bought an Ipod in any form
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People get iPods because they're fun and easy to use, not to appear "unique and cool." Whenever someone makes that criticism, they come off--to me anyway--as really bitter and desperate to appear unique and cool themselves by disparaging a popular product.
Dude, you are super-cool! It makes you enlightened if you purp
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I believe you nicely prove my point. I generally don't buy technology I don't have use for; I bought a MP3 player a few years ago which acts for me more as a memory stick then an MP3 player.
Now why would I then buy an Ipod to not use it? Or when I have an alternative already?
I bike partially to work, so using some earplugs would make me more detached from my environment which is quite dang
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What to worry about? (Score:5, Insightful)
We had cassette walkmans popular. No more.
We had CD players popular. No more
We had mp3 players popular. No more
We have iPods popular. After some time, we will not.
That's how hardware, software and all the computing works. After some time we will be laughing at those iPods, because we will have something new.
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We had Nintendo Gameboys. We still do.
We had cell phones. We still do.
I could go on and on here.
Huh? MP3 players are popular.
You guys have been predicting for five years now that the iPod was on its way out. I trust that prediction just as much as I trust the predictions you guys made when the iPod mini came out, or when the original iPod came out. Seriously, go back and read the discussion and laugh at how short-sighted people were.
Christmas (Score:5, Insightful)
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News Flash! (Score:5, Funny)
Fireworks makers puzzle over mysterious early-summer surge in demand!
Sales of Bush/Cheney 04 bumper stickers down 100%!
Losing its cool? (Score:5, Insightful)
Look around, iPods are everywhere and everyone is happy.
If sales are declining it's just because we all already have one.
I personally have a 4th gen 20GB click-wheel iPod. The color screens, video, photos, nano sizes, &c. haven't been enough to make me set aside the iPod I have to get a new one for another few hundred dollars. My iPod works how I expect it to and I'm happy. I won't be upgrading probably until this iPod is either stolen or broken, which I hope won't even ever happen.
If Apple wants to make people buy a SECOND iPod even though their current iPod works fine, they're going to have to add some compelling new features. I'd buy an iPod phone probably. Not so much because I want my phone and MP3 player in one device (but it would be nice if done properly: one less thing to carry around), but my current Motorola phone is horrible and I have some confidence that Apple would actually make a great phone with a good user interface. Every user interface on every cell phone out there right now is pretty much horrible; Apple could do a lot in this area.
I might get some sort of cool iPod car stereo. (Currently, I connect my iPod using the headphone jack to the Aux. in on the back of my Sony car stereo using a cable I got from Radio Shack... I'm talking about a REAL iPod car stereo, like a car stereo with a hard drive and wireless so I can send songs to my car in the garage from my computer in the house.) Supposedly there may be a touch-screen iPod coming? A touch-screen alone won't get me to buy another.
But yeah, iPods are still cool. There is no backlash. All the other MP3 players still are lacking in one way or another. iTunes is still a great way to manage music on the computer. People are happy. Apple has done great.
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
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If some new device is shown to actually be killing the ipod.. then it will not be news.
That said, I still think there is room for growth. I think the ipod is overpriced (as mac products tend to be) and if they cut prices it would open it up to all the people who have not bought one because of the price.
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That sort of assumption just makes you seem like quite a silly person.
There are plenty of examples of product prices being cut once market saturation at a certain price point has been reached.
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone have more data? (Score:2)
The article doesn't tell me much as this
[quote]From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1 million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly starting to worry that the bubble will burst.[/quote]
could just mean that iPod sales skyrocket around X-mas time.
Though perhaps the
good riddance! (Score:4, Funny)
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She told me that your random shuffle wasn't very compelling.
No new iPods in a long time... (Score:3, Insightful)
Eventually, yes. Now, no. (Score:5, Insightful)
14 million were sold in the crazy-buy-gifts-like-there-is-no-tomorow quarter. If you want to check trends you should look at corrosponding quarters , year over year growth [wikipedia.org].
guess what? 25% gains year over year... expect apple to sell around 20 million Ipods in the the corrosponding quarter.
FUD story playing to Wall Street bears (Score:3, Informative)
Q4 03: 336,000
Q1 04: 733,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 04: 807,000
Q3 04: 860,000
Q4 04: 2,016,000
Q1 05: 4,580,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 05: 5,311,000
Q3 05: 6,155,000
Q4 05: 6,451,000
Q1 06: 14,043,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 06: 8,526,000
Q3 06: 8,111,000
Re:FUD story playing to Wall Street bears (Score:4, Informative)
Very late Q1 04, iPod mini was released, very late Q1 05, iPod shuffle was released. No new iPod has been released since the 5G ("video") iPod almost a year ago, and the only thing to up sales a bit has been a 1GB iPod nano in the middle of Q2 06 and a small iPod shuffle price drop.
Having the other three quarters not reach holiday quarter level is the norm and pretty much the only way you can beat that is by releasing new products directly following the holiday quarter. This year they didn't, and so they declined. This isn't rocket science, and it doesn't point towards or prove an overall continuing decline.
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Why my iPod lost its cool. (Score:3, Interesting)
- Backlight died after a few weeks.
- Durable construction? You could scratch the screen with cotton.
- "Innovative" touch pad.. try scrolling through ten thousand songs precisely. Not. Happening.
- iTunes (though it's easily circumventable)
- Overall versatility only increases when you hax0r it (this might actually be a plus
- Price
TLF
D-pad good, scroll-wheel bad! (Score:2)
I got an iPod Shuffle and gave my iPod Mini to my daughter precisely because the touch wheen is such a horrid user interface, and the D-pad on the shuffle is so much more practical for 99% of the uses.
Apple needs to get together with Sony and do an iPod that has a jog-wheel and a D-pad but is otherwise an iPod... syncs with iTunes, plays AAC and protected AAC files, and so on.
Fool me once... (Score:3, Insightful)
1) battery life - Enough people have been 'burned' by the poor preformance of the built-in battery. (My wife's 40Gb player only lasts 30 minutes before the battery is dead) That don't think that $100-$300 every couple of years is worth it.
2) market saturation - How many people who would like to have a portable music player, haven't heard of an ipod?
3) price/format/additional features - I recently bought an iRiver T30 (1GB) It can play
4) no real reason to upgrade. The writing is on the wall for that popularity of hand-held video players, the video ipod is close, but the format (screen size/dimensions) of the PSP are damn near perfect. The first company to make an non-crippled divx/xvid/mpeg4/mp3 player will do good.
Could it be because... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Could it be because... Tuesday (Score:3, Informative)
He knows you are only good as what you have in the pipeline.
Perhaps (Score:2)
Bubble? (Score:5, Insightful)
The stock market was a bubble because everyone that bought stock inflated the price of stock for everyone else, making it look like a better growth opportunity for investment. The housing market was a bubble because everyone that bought houses inflated the prices of housing and the resultant appearance of investment opportunity similarly. And when both of which become too big, the bubble burst as there was nothing quite supporting the inflated prices and value plummetted.
The iPod does not exhibit bubble-like qualities. The iPod is a thing. Someone buying an iPod does not inflate the price for everyone else. As a thing with utility, the iPod cannot instantly decline in usefulness like a stock can.
The bubble is a useful analogy in certain investment situations. But let's not go pretexting it into conversation inappropriately.
open it up (Score:2)
"the" bubble? (Score:2)
Lower sales after the holiday? (Score:2)
You mean to say that iPod sales were lower in the 7 months following the holiday season?? Ne freakin' way!!
Ms. Cleo could have predicated that...
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My favorite line:
Who drops $300 on an iPod and then does not take it out of the box?? I think they interviewed grandparents who got iPods from their kids or something...
A close second was the sentence immediately preceeding that one:
Missed the biggy..feature creep (Score:2)
But I think the biggy is apples fault and gets worse with every generation. Feature Creep. The iPod was designed right at first. It did one thing and did it very well, play music. They keep adding features that have nothing to do with music, like photos, video and such. It's diluting what the thing is. Non of those things make it play music better, but they do clog the interface up more and make it overall a m
The Guardian's article... (Score:2, Informative)
Bullsh1t. Look at all of iPod's quarterly sales:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod#Sales [wikipedia.org]
Take out the massive spike for fiscal '06 Q1 and you have a very healthy, ordinary looking sales curve. Are we to think that Apple is in full-blown panic mode just because they aren't moving 10 million units a month? I find that very hard to believe.
economics (Score:2)
This Christmas I'll be holding sign outside the mall entrances that say "How in debt are you?"
At this point I don't think there's any turning back. We might as well let the bankers brand our asses and round us up together in the back-40 somewhere.
Author has a clear agenda (Score:5, Insightful)
Before anyone takes this article too seriously, it's worth examining the credentials of the "expert" quoted in the article. Tomi Ahonen is a self-declared "technology strategy consultant", whose primary field of consultancy is wireless and mobile telecoms [tomiahonen.com]. Last year he predicted that mobile games consoles would also be crushed by mobile phone usage [msn.com]. The weak PSP represented an easy target, I'm not so sure that the iPod is as passé as he would have us believe.
If anyone has any doubt regarding Tomi's views, look no further than his blog [blogs.com]. Clearly he has a vested interest in seeing the iPod fail, so take his opinions with large doses of salt.
This report is pure FUD. Look at the stats. (Score:4, Informative)
iPod unit sales:
----- 2004
Q4 03: 336,000
Q1 04: 733,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 04: 807,000
Q3 04: 860,000
Q4 04: 2,016,000
----- 2005
Q1 05: 4,580,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 05: 5,311,000
Q3 05: 6,155,000
Q4 05: 6,451,000
----- 2006
Q1 06: 14,043,000 (holiday quarter)
Q2 06: 8,526,000
Q3 06: 8,111,000
Believing the analysts (Score:4, Insightful)
It is interesting to me that so many Slashdot readers are taking it as a given that the analysts are correct on this one, even though the latter(and many Slashdot readers as well) have been wrong about the iPod pretty much every step of the way, and have a long history of not really grokking Apple. I agree that Apple needs to do something new, either by coming out with a completely new product that leapfrogs ahead of the iPod, or by some other means.
But the problem with forecasts like this is that they never take into account human creativity. The default assumption is that the engineers and designers at Apple (or any other company they examine) can't possibly come up with anything to supplant the currently successful product. Given Apple's track record since the return of Jobs, I'm willing to bet that the company's best days are not behind it.
The Halo Effect of iPod sales is very real. Macs, particularly laptops, have made an impressive comeback. You can bet they'll do more with the Intel-powered Macs than they're letting on now. The iTMS has been a huge success, and Apple can use that to springboard into a variety of media distribution plans, depending on where they want to take it. My guess is that when Apple introduces the new video service, there will be more to it than most pundits have predicted.
Particularly, I see Apple finally bringing consumers a truly easy way to snag video content via the Internet and play it back on a variety of devices easily. Integration isn't just about bringing technology to bear on a problem; it's also about making the technology easy enough for John Q. Public to use. With the success of the iPod, the buying public looks to Apple for easy to use media playback devices.
My predictions are, of course, not any more valuable than those from Wall Street. However, I am continually struck by the limited the range of vision of the Wall Street analysts, and by how frequently people actually listen to them.
Wrong on so many levels (Score:3, Insightful)
Overpriced compared to what? Free pirated music? All of the music stores that sell non-Indie music is seling for 99c accept for Walmart and Walmart is behind ITunes, Rhapsody, and Napster.
"In our ethnography interviews, some long-time iPod-users told us that they have stopped updating their iPods because it's too much work"
Using both Macs and Windows XP you just plug it in. Why couldn't they give a specific percentage of people?
" while other consumers who had bought iPods more recently had not even taken theirs out of the package to set it up.'"
Again no real numbers
"Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold."
During the fourth calendar quarter sells of consumer items peak --- news at 11. That's why economist compare on a "seasonally adjusted basis".
"He cited new mobile phones with improved MP3 players as the cause of the iPod's dwindling appeal"
http://news.com.com/Mobile+content+not+clicking+w
10% -- users who buy ringtones for mobile phones
0.4% -- users who paid for video
28% -- 15 million subscribers downloaded some type of content
So who are all of these people buying music from their cellphone?
I have a Samsung a900 that plays MP3 and AAC formatted music as well as Sprint's music store music. I can transfer music from my Mac using either Bluetooth or the included usb cable. The interface is decent but music drains the battery life. On top of that I have only 80MB to store music on. Even on Sprint's other phones that do accept a MicroSD card you can only get up to 2GB. I'll keep my Nano.
Re:Coolness factor (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps people should reconsider calling the iPod down for the count every six months. It's making them look idiotic. The iPod has never had a year-over-year quarter that went down in sales. Rumors are that Apple waited so long to update their iPod line this year because they've been in negotiations with major studios.
Re: (Score:2)
Wrong, Wall Street will sh*t a brick ... (Score:3, Insightful)
You are so wrong. Apple's stock price is all about iPod. For years their stock has been fairly flat as new computers are introduced, Macs that are the best machines they ever offered. However iPod news, or even rumors, can cause huge movements. The business press even often describes Apple as the maker of iPod and Macintosh computers, Mac ironically getting second billing. iPod brought Apple stock to the $30s and well b
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
When people say the batteries are not replaceable, they mean the product is not designed for the end-user to easily change the batteries, particularly without violating the product warranty. O
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You have to remember that the rumour of the irreplaceable batteries started out as pure thruth. It may not be true anymore, but it should never be forgotten that it was true once.
People payed several hundred dollars for these devices and when the batteries failed, Apple first refused to do anything, even for money. When a battery failed after the warranty, the reply from Apple was "Throw your iPod away and buy a new one. We do
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
ipod battery
replace ipod battery
ipod battery problem
...or anything similar, and it's the number one hit (and dozens of other sites that sell and service iPods and batteries follow).
To say nothing of the fact that Apple's own iPod battery replacement programs are thoroughly documented on its own pages, and can be found out about instantly by calling Apple, visiting any Apple store or service provider, or asking anyone who knows remotely anything about iPods.
So, nice try, but it's not an