When Apple Computer released the iPod nano just over a workweek ago , put back the popular iPod mini , they efficaciously solidified their berth of authority in the MP3 player market . While the ship’s company has released no prescribed sales routine , manufacture analysts have been intimately watch out the procession of the machine .
“ Customers are fundamentally doing back flips over this affair , ” Gene Munster , senior enquiry analyst with Piper Jaffray , told MacCentral . “ People see the ads and they see it on the Web , but until they in reality have one in their manus they just do n’t get it . ”
Munster contacted 20 Apple retail locations and get hold that all stores were sold out of the 4 GB blackened iPod nano , some stores were trade out of the 4 GB livid models and none of the stores were sold out of the 2 GB framework .
“ Their grip is getting stronger in the market , ” tell Munster . “ The nano fundamentally gave them another year in the drivers fanny . ”
It ’s the iPod experience
buy an iPod is more than just purchase a digital euphony player ; it is a double-dyed experience that no other maker can offer at this time . Sony once enjoyed the iconic status of the Walkman , but they have been unable to successfully move its scheme to the digital market .
“ Sony overturn portable euphony with the introduction of the original Walkman , but they were tardy to market with a digital solution and have been unable to market its portable euphony solvent to create any fervor , ” said Technology Business Research Analyst , Tim Deal .
Even though Sony is a huge competitor in the marketplace and has the potential drop to give Apple strong competition in the future , they are still lose one of the most important factor — the experience .
“ Sony is not endure to be able to get an boundary on this , ” said Munster . “ It ’s not like you are sell a Walkman that you are couch a tape in — you are selling an experience and that ’s what Sony does n’t have properly now . ”
Tim Deal agrees that the iPod experience is an important component for Apple .
“ The substance abuser experience for the iPod is one of its most compelling feature , ” said Deal . “ The fact that I can plug away my iPod into my personal computer or Mac and have the integrating between the gadget , the package and the on-line service creates a very positivist experience . ”
The iPod patent
In recent weeks Apple has found itself on the wrong end of two patent issues . First , Apple was denied a patent for some user interface elements of the iPod — the patent of invention office cited a alike claim submitted by Microsoft Corp. five month before Apple ’s claim . Second , Creative Labs was make out a patentthat name how files on a digital music instrumentalist are organized . Creative claim the patent cover not only its own Zen and Nomad jukebox , but also Apple ’s iPod .
The analyst were not that concerned with the patent disputes and agreed that most consumer wo n’t give the legal proceeds a 2d thought when determining which euphony thespian they will purchase .
finally , Piper Jaffray psychoanalyst Gene Munster , feels that Apple will get around the iPod patent proceeds .
“ You ca n’t patent the alphabet , ” said Munster . “ Creative and Microsoft seem to have similar claim and the reality is , there are a mess of variance you could do with the user interface . One of two things will happen : Apple will get around the title or they will tweak their subsist interface enough to get around the claim . ”
The counter - refinement that is Apple
Apple has one of the most recognized brand in the world . The brand stands for unlike affair to different people , but past ad drive challenge consumer to “ Think Different ” — that subject matter is helping the company in the digital music public .
“ Apple became a counter - culture phenomenon , ” say Deal . “ They make up those people that went against the grain and they capitalized on that with the Think unlike campaign . They created a ethnical computing machine icon of the Apple brand that represented a totally unlike type of computer user and that has translate attractively into the founding of the iPod . That counter - culture icon dovetail nicely into the musical theme of digital music . Where do you need to get your music ? You want to get it from someone that has symbolically gone against the grain — that ’s what music is about ; that ’s what Rock and Roll is all about . ”
One of the most important things that Apple has been able-bodied to do since the launching of the original iPod is have its steel consociate with digital music actor . When people think of buy a music role player , the name that automatically comes to intellect is iPod . but put , owning an iPod has become a condition symbolisation .
This is what Sony was able to do in the yesteryear with the Walkman brand and it is also one of the rationality other company will have a hard time removing Apple from its dominant role in the market .
“ Apple is so firmly entrenched in the market right now — it would be knockout to imagine what kind of misstep it would take on Apple ’s part to suffer this ascendance , ” said Deal .
