“Piper Jaffray research analyst Gene Munster maintained an ‘outperform’ rating and $79 price target on Apple Computer after examining the MP3 player competitive landscape and concluding that comparable players could not compete with the iPod,” Maya Roney reports for Forbes.
“‘While non-iPod devices often have similar, if not broader (for example: an FM tuner), feature sets than the iPod, none of these devices have shown that they can compete in two key areas: user interface and ‘cool’ factor,’ said the analyst,” Roney reports. “Munster believes non-iPod devices must compete on price to gain adoption, but the massive relative shipment volume of the iPod prevents other MP3 player manufacturers from replicating the economies of scale achieved by Apple, allowing the company to continue sell iPods at the lowest prices in the market.”
Full article here.
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That’s my Apple.
MDW: PRESENT : I already bought my own Christmas present to myself. A black 60 gig iPod….
It’s amazing. The competition knows what the winning formula is, but they still cannot create a competitor.
Maybe they should subcontract Apple to make an Apple competitor, that way Apple wins on all counts.
How do I get a job saying obvious shit for fun and profit?
I pray that Apple will put as much effort in marketing the new Intel-based Macs, portables and PowerMacs as they do the iPods. Maybe it’s coming though.
Let’s bow our heads….
But I do wish Apple would produce an iPod which doesn’t scratch so easily – like the iPod mini.
Despite treating my new iPod 30GB with kid gloves, small scratches are appearing (on the back) after only a few weeks.
Note that Creative can’t compete on the interface front, and they claim to have invented it !
iluv ipod news 24 ihours a iday!
I spose they could always copy its design and colours and give it a similar name… oh right Mr Woo has already gone there and has had about as much success as as a sun lotion salesman in Lapland.
It’s amazing. The competition knows what the winning formula is, but they still cannot create a competitor
—
No it’s not. Name another company (sun?!) that knows software and hardware like Apple.
It sure as hell ain’t Sony.
Let’s see what Microsoft comes up with — the hardware for their iTunes-like Corona project. If they’ve learned their lesson it should come with only one button. Reset.
Hopefully we will gain some market share and they can do the same thing in computers. The very best computers in the market with the best operating system, at hands down the cheapest price (even tho I think the TOC is lowest now, it would be nice to have dozers not be able to equivocate).
TCO for home users is bullsh*t. Purchase price is everything. My time at home is free. Virus checkers for PC’s are $40 or even free. Firewalls and spy-ware blockers are free.
Jack A– my sentiments exactly. Let’s hope that Apple can gain enough volume in their computer business to gain the same economies that have been achieved with the iPod.
Should have read
“after examining the MP3 player competitive landscape and concluding that comparable players SHOULD not compete with the iPod”.
Time for me to go to the 3rd Street Promenade Store and get me a 60gb to replace my 1 year old U2 iPod.
“TCO for home users is bullsh*t. Purchase price is everything. My time at home is free.”
Maybe if you have no life perhaps, but believe it or not, some of us actually have better things to do at home than wasting time scanning our PCs for never ending viruses and spyware, rebooting from constant crashes, etc…
your time at home is free? have you no self worth? A ll time is valuable and a precious commodity at that. Someone once told me that the definition of insanity is to repeat the same mistake over and over again to the same negative result. I think that summarizes windows users…so
“None of these devices have shown that they can compete in two key areas: user interface and ‘cool’ factor,’ said the analyst.”
What about the seamless and friction-free interface that is the iTune Music Store? The “two key areas” of the iPod, in reality, are these:
iPod interfaces which nobody can match:
1. Between the user and the device.
2. Between the device and the available music.
These two things combined with aesthetics create the oft-sited “coolness factor.” The coolness factor is the realization, in the owner’s mind, that the device he’s looking at is closer to flawless than any other complex electronic device he’s ever held. This comes only after some experience with both using the device and staring at it.
Spyinthesky,
Probably not the best analogy since you can get serious sunburn in snowy conditions, if the sun is bright and reflecting off the snow.