We have a lot to thank Apple's iPod for..........
Back in the early noughties, the iPod in the picture above was launched, the music industry was subsequently forced to re-invent itself, and the consumer began in embrace music technology as never before.
The online revolution in music had begun, while the vast majority continued with their Walkmans and portable Cd players, blissfully unaware of what was happening online. (Sony was thinking that the Mini Disc was the future - oh dear!)
People had no idea what MP3 was, but even your dear old Gran had heard of iPod.
It would become the iconic industry standard/industry leading product, who'd have guessed this product would be the one to turn Apple around? Would lead to a revolution in the mobile phone market? Would turn out to have 80% market share in the MP3 player market in the UK?
But did you know;
1. Apple's much famed user interface, a huge part of the reason for their market dominance, was actually using Creatives patents, and this action ended up with Apple writing a cheque for $100m, effectively a license for using these patents.
2. The original iPod creator Tony Faddell, or innovator, actually had his idea turned down by Philips and Real Networks before ending up at the doors of Apple.
3. The name "iPod" was originally intended to be used for Apples Internet kiosks, which never saw the light of day.
4. In 2001 Apple sold 125,000 units world wide of the then $400 USD/ £300 hard drive based device (started at a mere 5GB!!!)
5. Jan 2004 saw the launch of the mini, with a 4GB micro drive, and in 5 funky fresh colours!Total sales of iPod accelerated to 20 million units by the end of 2005, also in part helped by the U2 special edition model, which was black with a red wheel!
6. Early iPod battery live was notoriously poor, with battery estimated at 300-500 charging cycles. (battery replacement specialists rejoice, and lawyers - a new market was born)
7.It took until Gen 5 iPod for the colour screen to feature, Gen 6 for video. Even a USB connection (rather than firewire) was saved for Gen 3.
8 The Sept 2005 Nano was so easily scratched that a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple, and they subsequently all shipped with protective cases (sound familiar to you iPhone 4 owners, the "case" solution that is). By 2006 the market or "ecosystem" that had developed for iPod accessories was valued at more than $1bn.
9.Luxpro issues a lawsuit against Apple alleging "an "unending aspiration" to hold a monopoly of the worlds supply of potable media players crushes the smaller players underfoot.". This was a countersuit to the one Apple filed alleging constant copyright infringements.
10. On average there are over 600 new apps arriving in itunes every day! Connor Mulcahey, the downloader of the 1 billionth app, got a $10000 itunes card, and ipod touch, the Time Capsule and a Mac book Pro.
Despite the controversy, despite the errors (seemingly still continuing with iPhone 4) people still love this brand and this ever expanding product line. Check out the queue below, a scene replicated seemingly every time Apple announce another iPod, iPhone or iPad all round the globe!
They have re-invented the way we use, store and listen to music, they then did the same things with the mobile phone market, and now with iPad I learnt today that laptop manufacturers are scaling down production due to the spectacular success that is iPad. Yup, estimates suggest that alone Apple are selling $374,000 worth a day. All with iPod functionality of course!
Luxpro have a point in their lawsuit. Not in the merit of it, but in terms of monopoly. In fact the iPods dominance has been resemlblant of Schumachers Glory years in F1. Nothing has come close.
Indeed the main rivals to the iPod are now fading fast! Samsung shut down their dedicated MP3 section in their R&D facility last year, Creative are fading due to years of losses in an attempt to keep their market share, Rio argueabley the first world first consumer MP3 player producers went bankrupt years ago after a big deal with DSG turned sour (after the customers point blank refused anything but iPod).
Sony desperately trying to re-establish the Walkman brand name, once a brandname of collosal value (when tapes where all the rage!) have spent the last few years playing catch up since forgetting their desire for proprietary music formats, but always seem to lose traction, just as they are seemingly closing in.
Sony desperately trying to re-establish the Walkman brand name, once a brandname of collosal value (when tapes where all the rage!) have spent the last few years playing catch up since forgetting their desire for proprietary music formats, but always seem to lose traction, just as they are seemingly closing in.
From there you move to Korea, where Apple only rank about 5th in the Uk market. Korea is actually the hotbed of MP3 development. Companies such as iRiver, and Cowon rule the roost, such is the fiercly patriotic natire of Koreans, although the iPhone is now very much sought after.
Now, how does the iPod stack on when compared with its rivals on sound performance? That is most definately a question for next time, and a Pepsi Challenge style , blind, listening test.
As you might have seen last night, Jon Bentley on the Gadget Show used Cowons J3 as his benchmark player for his latest headphone test, and in his online review states it has superior sound quality to the iPod. How will consumers find this?
