I'd imagine it's pretty likely that you have heard plenty about
the Apple iPod in the media. If you've got kids then they
probably wanted one for Christmas and if you work in marketing
or the music business then you have probably already had an iPod
for years. Since its release in 2001 the Apple iPod has become
synonymous with the term Mp3 player. Apple pretty much created
the market for Mp3 players and they also totally dominate it.
Why has the iPod been such a huge success?
Apple cleverly spotted the rise of digital music and the lack of
a suitable piece of hardware. For this reason they developed a
hard drive based MP3 player and released this in late 2001. As
with their recent computer models Apple did something very
clever in the way they marketed and designed their product.
Right from the start the iPod was given a sleek and sexy look
and was marketed at young, style continuos, music enthusiasts.
Apple created a fantastic brand with the all white look, with
the white earphones being featured prominently in adverts. The
white iPod earphones have actually become so recognisable that
they have actually been blamed for increased numbers of street
robberies.
Even the original iPod could store a fairly significant amount
of music as it used a 5GB hard drive. It was a success from the
start, but the fact that it was only Mac compatible held back
sales slightly, although Apple did actually see an increase in
sales of Apple Macs due to people wanting to be able to use the
iPods.
The real explosion for the iPod when they released the 3rd
generation iPod in 2003 that came bundled with Apple's own
iTunes software that was compatible on both Macs and Windows
PCs. This has opened up a new market as they could now tap into
the Windows users. Apple now has a huge 90% market share of the
hard drive based Mp3 player market, and 70% share of the MP3
player market as a whole. Very impressive I'm sure you will
agree.
Apple has managed to keep their grip on the mp3 player market by
releasing several different versions of the iPod. The main iPod
is now in its 5th generation and although the design is largely
similar to the original, it has been made more compact and
available with much large storage capacities. The latest models
can display colour photos and movies.
iPod mini- Apple's first iPod spin off was the iPod mini. This
mp3 player was fairly similar to the original although smaller
in size. It was the first iPod to be available in different
colours and was designed to target a slightly different market.
iPod nano - Apple decided to discontinue the mini in 2005, to
replace it with the ultra small iPod nano. These are 62% smaller
than the mini players and feature coloured screens. Apple has
come under some criticism though for the screens on the nano as
many users have complained that they damage too easily.
iPod shuffle - This is another ultra small iPod and was the
first flash drive based iPod. They only have a limited capacity
of 512MB or 1GB and do not have a display screen. Users can
either listen to the songs on the player in a random order or
set a playlist in iTunes.
The dominance of the iPod in the mp3 player market can be seen
in other industries. Cars are now being designed with docking
ports to make integrating iPods to the in car system easier.
Clothes manufacturers are making clothes with special pockets to
hold iPods. All manner of other iPod accessories are being
created by various electronics companies.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the iPod was the only mp3 player
available, well it isn't. There are many other players out
there, that some will tell you are actually a lot better than
the iPods, just maybe not as fashionable.
About the author:
Gillian Todd is an author at
http://www.a1-mp3-players.com
