Apple's iPod universe has not stalled -- yet

Posted Aug 23rd 2006 9:14AM by Brian White
Filed under: Products and Services, Industry, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL)

Has Apple stalled in the iPod-release marketplace? It's been just about one year since Steve Jobs announced the latest iPods, the iPod nano and iPod with Video.

Does the market need a new iPod every six months? According to some, the perception of a dated product can be just as destructive to sales as anything. Keeping a brand like iPod fresh on the minds of every consumer is a constant battle, although judging by iPod sales, no harm has been done -- yet.

Competitors have been busy releasing new models with boatloads of features, better designs and on more timely schedules than Apple. I seriously doubt Apple has "hit a wall" as this Cnet article suggests, although it is true that the competition has seen a flurry of activity in the last year. The last iPod released was the 1GB iPod nano in February, which was just a different version than the previously-released 2GB and 4GB models. Has anything really stalled?

If anything has stalled, Apple's sales are not showing it at all, as the iPod still commands 75% of the digital music player market as well as being the most popular music player on the planet. But I'd like to see categories here (flash or hard drive-based, and by physical capacity). Apple continues to have a huge advantage that just keeps being glossed over -- the strong and incredibly easy-to-use integration of the iPod and iTunes store -- which sells music, television shows and even distributes podcasts.

The competitors, including Microsoft's upcoming Zune, will continue to churn out products at lower price points with many more features than every iPod. Does that mean a sale gained? Hard to say -- but SanDisk is the #2 player in this market behind Apple, and it's getting better every day.

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.

Tags: AAPL, Apple, iPod, iPod nano, IpodNano, iTunes, SanDisk Sansa E280, SandiskSansaE280, Sansa

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-23-2006 @ 11:50AM

william said...

I'm thinking part of Apple's reasoning for not updating the iPod yet is to flush out the competition. SanDisk, Microsoft,etc. putting out products to compete against Apple's current players, and those competitors are committing to certain feature sets. When Apple does release it's new product, competitors will not be able to copy Apple's features for some time since they already have their "next generation" products out there. Zune is being developed to compete against an Apple product that is a mystery.

8-23-2006 @ 12:07PM

zune said...

Every Goliath has a weak spot, and the iPod is exposing a vulnerability. This Chistmas Apple will be showcasing old faithful, while Sandisk and MS bring out new products.

8-23-2006 @ 7:28PM

jbelkin said...

Apple probably would've launched something sooner if there was a slowdown but since they're now selling about 8 million ipods every quarter including the slow post-holiday quarter, why obsolete when you don't have to?

BTW, that works out to 32 million ipods a year and at best #2 Sandisk is around 9.7%) so at best SanDisk will sell around 3.2 million players - Apple & pretty much everybody in the world would take that market condition. Also keep in mind, SanDisk is pretty much limited to their own technology investments (in flash) to "buy" and keep their business going - Apple can choose among many flash makers & other OEM manufacturers to re-fresh the ipod.

After 5 years and selling nearly 80 million ipods, the idea that "better specs" can defeat the ipod should be put to bed. People have looked at cheaper and more feature added mp3 players (FM, recording, etc ) and 75-80% of the people have ALREADY DECIDED - they want ease of use, convenience in buying, and just as important - the cachet of being able to afford the best. The only selling point of other players is if you're a contrarian and have some psychology need to not buy anything popular - hardly a position to build a lasting business on. Basically all non ipod buyers are either contrarians, on a very limited budget or loathe Apple ... again, we can see how large that customer base is ... and now, you add MS in the mix to roil the waters of IT'S WMA but not that other kind of WMA ... Yea, it's WMA but not plays4sure WMA.

Before anyone can compete with Apple - they have to answer YES to this question ...

Can you load & or buy music, music videos, movies, movie trailers, podcasts, photos, and audiobooks with

ONE CLICK?

If you can't match that - you cannot come closer than SanDisk to Apple.

It's that simple.

Now add in the design of the ipod and the cachet.

Meanwhile who knows what Apple will unveil? Will it be a full blown MOVIE store before this holiday season - or an 6-8" screen ipod? Unlike others, Apple will announce and be ready to take orders to ship in a day or week - none of this pre announcing.