Generally , Apple has very little use for anniversaries . late milestone — like 2006 ’s thirtieth day of remembrance of the companionship ’s founding , the Mac ’s 20th anniversary in 2004 , and theiPod ’s fifth anniversarylast fall — passed without much official to - do from the ship’s company . But whenApple sell its 100 millionth iPodrecently , the troupe made indisputable not to let the occasion go by without comment .
And for safe reason , technical school manufacture analysts say : “ plain it ’s a big threshold for Apple and industry , ” said Tim Bajarin , chairwoman of high - technical school consulting business firm Creative Strategies . “ This clearly reinforces Apple ’s authority in the market . ”
Both analysts and executives at Apple anticipate the iPod ’s hold on the market to continue , even as more “ iPod killer ” emerge to take their injection at the music player .
“ It ’s interesting , ” said Greg Joswiak , Apple ’s vice president of worldwide iPod marketing . “ 2004 seems to be when the floodgates of contender opened and that ’s the same year we escort our grocery store contribution zoom . The contention had to relate themselves to the iPod — this is one of those rare situations where more competition in reality helped us . ”
“ I do n’t think anybody knows what it takes to knock them [ Apple ] off , ” Bajarin pronounce . “ They are in a leadership status that is not threatened by anyone . ”
With the a la mode would - be iPod challenger , Microsoft ’s Zune , fail to make much of a splash — recent media reportshave the Zune losing market share between December 2006 and February 2007 — the only questions face Apple as the iPod tide past the 100 million fool seem to be how the company managed to trade so many gadget in the preceding five - and - a - one-half years , and whether there ’s still way to grow .
The closed book of the iPod ’s winner
There ’s trivial doubt that the iPod attain a nerve among consumer . “ People have an worked up connection with medicine and the iPod allowed them to reconnect with their music , ” Joswiak say . “ The iPod is so easy , the excited connection is uphold — with the rival , the product acquire in the agency , so the connexion is counter by the negative experience of using the product . ”
If that ’s truthful , then how did Apple get the formula correct ? Joswiak credits the caller ’s ease of use — both with the euphony player itself and with the iTunes software system that connects the iPod to either a Mac or a PC . The full package only became stronger when Apple added digital medicine sale via the iTunes Store , launched in 2003 .
“ We ’ve always articulate the euphony market was very various and nearly everybody loves music , ” Joswiak added . “ It was the matter of making the right product for that wide range of people . Nobody else has the skilful ironware , package and service — they may have restraint of one of those items , but we hold in all of the piece to the puzzler and that allow us to move apace in this market . ”
What lies forrader
And it does n’t seem that Apple is resting on its Stan Laurel . Starting next calendar month , the company will team up up with record caller EMI tooffer on-line music without any digital - rights management engineering through iTunes . The DRM - free tracks will sell for 30 penny more than the stock 99 - cent downloads , but they ’ll also be encode at a higher bit - rate .
In possibility , that could open up up the iPod to increase contest . Sung dynasty from iTunes that have DRM limitation will only play on the iPod ; DRM - free tracks can play onanydevice . But Apple is betting its consumer will continue to bend to its music player because of such innovation and enhancements .
“ We ’ve been beat back by the fact we require to make the best products , ” Joswiak said . “ That ’s what is required to be drawing card in this food market . Doing what ’s best for the client is what make you a leader . ”
And psychoanalyst retrieve that ’s a middling dependable bet . “ Apple has stayed on top because they have done a couple of thing properly consistently , ” Creative strategy ’ Bajarin enounce . “ First , they continue to innovate around the manner and design of the iPod and second they stay private-enterprise with pricing . ”
In fact , pronounce Phil Leigh , president of grocery store - enquiry house Inside Digital Media , making DRM - free tracks useable at iTunes could actually aid Apple by driving more medicine lover aside from peer - to - peer site .
That ’s why analysts like Leigh think Apple will be able to defend on to its dominant share of the music - participant market — and perhaps even see a significant boost to the rest of its business sector . “ This is going to be something more than just the doubling of [ Apple ’s ] market portion , ” Leigh added . “ I call back it will go from 5 percentage to 20 percent . It will have a much more significant affect than what Microsoft have lease themselves believe . ”
No wonder , then , why the cut-rate sale of the 100 millionth iPod is more than just a radar target on the microwave radar screenland .
“ It ’s a reminder to anyone that seems to have forget that people are having a well-disposed experience with Apple , ” Leigh articulate . “ It will very likely will lead to decreasing market place portion for Microsoft . ”
