While the Apple iPod has been the market leader when it comes to both flash and HDD based players, it is mainly a combination of "default status", its design and luck that is keeping its sales strong. So far Apple continues to revamp its iPod series every now and again to attract more customers, such as colour screen, longer battery life, larger capacities and so on. However, like the Sony Walkman's market leading days there is a good chance that Apple's major sales growth may turn the other way around.
For example, Apple has had a 616% sales rise between its financial third-quarter this year, compared with its previous third-quarter, however the sales increase between its financial second-quarter and third-quarter this year is only 13%, clearly indicating that its sales have flattened out and may turn the other way around later on. In Japan, the Sony has already taken over iPod Shuffle sales when it comes to flash players, although iPod Shuffle sales still remain very strong both in Europe and in the US.
The iPod
also had the advantage of being launched at the start of the online music services, so both its iTunes service downloads and iPod sales grew up together at the right time. Another reason iPod is doing so well is that most consumers assume iPod is just another way of saying MP3 player, so when the shop for an MP3 player, the first thing the look out for is if it says iPod on the box, not realising that competing players can also play MP3s.
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The iPod has become a cultural and financial phenomena but does it have staying power? It was a question many analysts were asking until Apple Computer Inc. said earlier this week it had sold a record 6.15 million iPods in its fiscal third-quarter. This is a 13% increase from the second-quarter and a 616% jump from the third-quarter in 2004. This performance makes it clear the iPod is not a fad. In fact, it suggests the product may still be in the early stage of hyper-growth. It's even more impressive given iPod third-quarter sales were US$1.1-billion while Apple's desktop sales were US845-million and laptop sales were US$720-million The iPod's success is due to a variety of factors. It has a superior design and it was launched just as digital music hit the mainstream. In other words, it is the right product at the right time -- a stark contrast to Apple's Newton personal digital assistant, which bombed only to see the Palm win over millions of consumers a few years later. More important, the iPod has default status. It means when consumers look at buying an MP3 player, many of them think about an iPod. You don't see many consumers openly clamoring for a Creative Technology Inc.'s Zen or a Jukebox from Dell Computer Corp. The full, rather lengthy article can be read here. |
It will be interesting to see how much longer Apple can keep its leading position. When it comes to HDD based players, I can easily see the iPod and iPod mini remain the market leader for several more years to come. However, with the very limited amount of features on the iPod shuffle, these will likely be the
first players to be taken over by a competitor shortly, like what has happened
in Japan.
Source: Canada.com - Technology
