Halloween has just passed us by , and Thanksgiving has yet to arrive , but there is already a big red medal bond across the top of the Apple Store which can mean only one thing : quick or not , the holiday shopping time of year is upon us and Apple wants you to stuff at least a few stockings with nanos , shuffles and video iPods . If the psychoanalyst Playlist spoke with are correct , many of you will do just that .
The Christmas shopping time of year can make or conk out many retail merchant and products . Even a ware as successful as theiPodhas to have strong sale at the end of the year , and for the premature few age it has done so . Malus pumila banks on those end - of - year gross revenue , and made no secret of the fact that it bring out its unexampled line of iPods in prison term for the vacation time of year .
But this season comes with many motion that Apple has n’t had to answer in previous age . The with child of these is whether or not the market has reached a saturation point . The iPod has relish “ it ” contrivance status now for at least two serial holiday time of year , and has been on sale even longer than that , since 2001.This presents three challenges for Apple , ( plus one other , unrelated , challenge ) that the company must confront if it is to have a unattackable poop .
For the first challenge , upon which the next two are detail , the company must continually re - invent its product line in monastic order to hang up on to its nerveless credentials . Apple can not allow Sony , Creative , or any number of other challenger to win consumer ’ mindshare with a new , flashy gizmo . The iPod must stay on atop of the gadget heap . secondly , Apple must go out and find fresh client who have not already purchase an iPod . This challenge becomes increasingly difficult with every iPod sold , specially as many consumers will never purchase an iPod .
Finally , Apple needs for its existing iPod owner to go out every few years and buy a new one . These can beiPod miniowners who want more content , owner of second - multiplication models who want something with a modest cast factor , or even a fifth - generation ( 5 g ) iPod owner who require ashuffleto take jogging . The important thing is that Apple has to keep the intersection compelling enough that when its time to go out and get a unexampled histrion ( or even better , before that time comes ) consumers believe “ iPod ” and not “ iRiver . ”
accord to the analysts Playlist spoke with , it would seem that Apple has met all three of those challenges and can expect solid sales leading up to the New Year .
“ It will be another solid vacation season for the iPod , ” Ross Rubin , theatre director of industriousness analysis at NPD Techworld , told Playlist . “ Apple has its best lineup yet and several strong challenger , notably HP and Rio , have omit out from a year ago . We ’ll continue to see speed growth this holiday season equate with last yr as there ’s still a stack of greenfield in this market place . The iPod with video recording may also entice owner of earliest hard drive - based good example to raise as well . ”
And there are still plenty of novel client out there as well , notes Michael Gartenberg , frailty president and research director for Jupiter Research .
“ The securities industry does n’t seem to be anywhere close to a saturation item , ” said Gartenberg . “ We ’re getting to a penetration that ’s reaching the mass market but Apple has done a good occupation reinvigorating the product line — in particular with the iPod nano and video iPod , a lot of those devices are going to the install base . ”
One method acting Apple has relied on to attract new consumers to bribe iPods has been by move after dissimilar securities industry segments . Not everyone require , or can afford , a60 GB iPodwith all the bells and whistle . For some , an iPod shuffle will do just ticket .
But while Apple has continually preface fresh iPod shape , this class assure a major increase in that bodily process , with the handout of three unexampled iPods with radically redesigned form factors . The iPod shuffling , nano and full - sized 5 G iPod ( with picture ) all came out since last Christmas , and all appeal to different types of consumer .
“ There ’s in spades some intersection in the dissimilar segment and Apple is always hear to tempt you to be sold up to the next highest damage spot , ” pronounce Gartenberg . “ For example , the 1 GB shambling , for a little more money , Apple say ‘ we can get you into a low - close nano . ’ Essentially you ’ve got the shuffle being focused on the thriftiest destruction of the shell , they want the iPod and they want the seal . And an iPod is whatever Apple says it is . ”
“ The targeting of different demographics was more denotative with the mini , ” say Rubin , “ where the color schemes skewed to jr. buyers and women . The nano will still appeal to the more style - conscious , while the full - sized iPod buyers will be more driven by features and price - performance . That precede to a de facto segmentation between women and men . The shuffle , of course , remain aimed at that note value buyer . ”
But thenano , analyst predict , will be Apple ’s big seller this yr , that crosses the most boundaries .
“ The nano comes in really at the sweetened smirch . Most consumer have 1000 or less in their collection , ” Gartenberg explains . “ And the form element is nonpareil in the marketplace . There is no reason to mean that the nano is pass away to sell as well if not better [ than the mini ] . ”
The last , unrelated challenge we pertain to earlier is a different sort of bird than the others : case . Just before the vacation season began , Apple was gain with a class - military action case claim that the nano screen scratches too easily . Apple had already addressed the issue , tell MacCentral that the screen are incisively the same as those find out on the fourth - generation iPod , yet the case pressed forward , finally becoming international in scope .
It ’s the 2d time Apple has confront an iPod - related class - activeness suit — it settle another transaction with barrage issues just this June . So how will this new suit affect the iPod stain ? Apple has little to fear , say analysts .
“ knowingness of the lawsuit or the military issue around it wo n’t dissuade many purchaser and firm brand and product have flourish through far speculative legal lying-in than the iPod face , ” say Rubin . ”
“ One affair about this nation is that anyone can sue anyone else for just about anything , ” mark Gartenberg . “ I think we ’ll see zero effect . It ’s hard to imagine these lawsuits having an wallop on anyone other than lawyers . ”
Mathew Honanis a San Francisco - based writer and photographer . He writes regularly about iPods and digital audio frequency for Playlist .
For more on the iPod , please visit theiPod Product Guide .
