Is the Apple IPod really better?
Sure there are many of companies that make great products, but don't you wonder why Apple is doing so well?
I think that Apple has perfected what Sony did back when they dominated the portable music world in the 80's.
They make the consumer feel great about their purchase! The device looks good, sounds good and is the envy of all that see it, and it worth the money spent. Sony did it with the Walkman, Apple has done it with the IPOD. There is no denying that the design and engineering are better than anything else out there.
But is that all? I do find myself continually coming back for more. I had the IPOD, Mini, Nano, IPOD with Video, and I am sure I will pick up the IPOD VIDEO when it comes out. (Btw I did exactly the same thing back in the 80's with the Sony Walkman, I must of bought each new model when it came out, i.e. WM5, WM10, WMF100 etc, and it continued with the MiniDisc)
Actually it is the whole experience that makes the difference. I just had a IPOD Nano just stop working. All I had to do was fill out a web page, a pre-paid postage box arrived a day later and I shipped the unit back and had it within 2 more days. How can you beat that kind of service? So far I am completely sold.
Btw, didn't you notice that Apple bumped up the speed on all of the new Core Duo books for free? Sure it may have been due to the complaints that the performance was not as they claimed, but at the end of it all the consumer gets a better product and the image of Apple is preserved.
One other thing that will eventually drive a product to success or failure. When Sony dominated the portable music device with the Walkman, you basically had an open format, the cassette tape. There we no restrictions, you could record what you wanted to and listened to what you wanted to.
Now with the digital era, mp3s allowed you to do the same. Take your music on you device without any hassle. Now if you look at what Sony did with the Mini Disc, they basically had a closed system, didn't make it easy for you to copy your content and expected you to buy their media. In my book definitely a turn off and ultimately a failure in the USA.
Apple is hugely successful because it realizes that you need to allow some unrestricted content on you device, i.e. mp3s. However they also let you buy protected content from their online store for around a dollar a track. Now that is reasonable.
Now I have been the victim of over priced CDs for years. I have close to 400 cds in my collection. In my collection there are more than half where I only listen to one song on the album. Now if itunes was around when I was buying CDs, I may have saved alot of money. (or I would have a lot more good music to show for the same money!!)
Alex