“It’s a mini-world after all. Apple’s new iPod Mini was a strong seller in its first full week in circulation, even though Mac faithfuls earlier complained it was overpriced. The 4-gigabyte digital music player, which can hold a thousand songs in a device the size of a fat credit card, began retailing Jan. 20. By Wednesday, hundreds of units were sold-out at multiple city retailers, including the Apple Store in SoHo and Tekserve in Chelsea,” Nancy Dillon reports for The New York Daily News.
“‘I had it in my hands, and then I lost it,’ said a frustrated Steve Perry, 40, managing director at Kirkland Investors in Manhattan. He missed buying the SoHo store’s last iPod Mini by a matter of minutes,” Dillon reports. “‘I went downstairs to ask some questions, and someone snapped it up. I should have done the New York thing and paid first, asked questions later,’ he said.”
“‘We’re turning away a hundred people a day,’ said Tekserve owner Dick Demenus. ‘We’re hoping to get a new shipment [this week]. I heard there’s a component shortage.’ Apple is still the market share leader, but a war over the format for downloadable music could change this, analysts said. Apple’s iTunes site sells songs in a format that iPods alone can play,’ Dillon reports. “Most other services, including the new legal version of Napster, sell songs in a Microsoft format that Apple iPods can’t play.”
“Microsoft also is reportedly building an online music store. ‘Microsoft could really be a threat to the iPod,’ said Danielle Levitas at research firm IDC. ‘Windows is the dominant PC platform. And there are still lots of consumers who don’t quite get that you can use an iPod with your Windows PC,'” Dillon reports.
Full article here.
What a crap. If Windows/M$ was a threat, iPod wouldn’t have had this success in the first place. Please Danielle Levitas stop talking nonsense. Or should we all listen to the same crap over and over and over. Get real, face the fact and just try to listen to what people want. If there are a lot of windows users who don’t quite get it, I bet the majority have received the massage crystal clear.
Don�t you get it that WMA will never equal mp3 or m4a format! Use your commonsense.
They don’t get it. It does not matter that iTunes Music Store is iPod only and vice versa. When you have iPod you do not want to go to any other place, because iTunes Music Store satisfies all your music needs (if they don’t have something they will add it soon). Microsoft can sell crap to losers as much they can. That does not move Apple anywhere. It only destroy Microsoft’s image nothing else as do these recent viruses. iPod owners are perfectly happy with iTunes Music Store and its excellent service.
What MS hasn’t done doesn’t mean it will. They have nothing now and when they do what else will have Apple done?
Apple is so far ahead of everybody and everybody WANTS *THE* iPod, plus why don’t people know that the iPod is for windows when the TV’s around the world display the fact that it is for mac AND windows in the adverts?
I truly believe that most people will not know that iPod’s can work with PC’s except for us Mac-head’s. However, some will assume that the iPod DOES play on PC’s simply because to them it’s just an “MP3 Player” and a cool one at that. I am not sure if it will be a “threat” per se. But I do think it will simply be a detriment due to the people that are clueless about this sort of thing.
How, exactly, is MS going to pose a threat? There are effectively 2 models of iPods, and maybe a hundred + other Digital Music Player competitors. The iPods own the marketshare. It doesn’t take a seat at the Genius Bar to figure out that people WANT iPods! Therefore, they purchase their music at the one store that offers music that will play on the iPod, the iTMS. This is all by design. The only way MS could really pose a threat is to release an “iPod Killer”, something that everyone would think is better, and, more importantly, cooler than the iPod. Since when has anyone equated Microsoft with “cool”? Sorry, it’s not going to happen.
My my, we don’t follow history do we? One word: XBox. I don’t see that dominating the gaming market, even though it’s by Microsoft. Just cos’ you have a lot of money doesn’t mean you know what your doing.
Don’t discount M$, guys. They play dirty. They could stage their own giveaway without McDonalds or Pepsi. Their price per song could be $0.45 for several years. They could give away a free player with every online music purchase of $100 or more. They could make the iPod work with their jukebox program (whenever they make one). It wouldn’t be difficult to convert their WMA files to AAC on the fly (during download to the iPod).
I think they are all talk right now; just creating rumors of vaporware to hold back Apple’s momentum. I don’t think they’re all that interested in selling music, but they could be a serious threat if they wanted to.
Yeah here’s a perfect scenario: Mom, I want an iPod mini for my birthday. Mom goes to best buy and sees that they’re sold out, but here’s a creative player that plays music, and ‘Skippy’ at best buy talks her into buying it for little suzy. Now tell me that this couldn’t happen, esp. if there are no iPods.
You said it Chomper. Everyone said once the 800 pound gorilla known as M$ got into the gaming arena, that Sony would run for cover. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way now did it? Hell, the Xbox even has superior hardware to the PS2, yet it hardly made a dent. Now they’re gearing up for the Xbox2 since the first rendition completely failed at accomplishing M$’ only goal anytime they enter a market segment…domination.
<<Yeah here’s a perfect scenario: Mom, I want an iPod mini for my birthday. Mom goes to best buy and sees that they’re sold out, but here’s a creative player that plays music, and ‘Skippy’ at best buy talks her into buying it for little suzy. Now tell me that this couldn’t happen, esp. if there are no iPods.>>
Sure, it can happen, but little Suzy is going to be extremely disappointed when she gets her Creative player because she and especially the other kids don’t think those are cool. The iPod is the cool statement item, not mp3 players in general. You don’t see 50 Cent or anybody else carrying around a P.O.S. Napster player or whatever, they have an iPod. And the kids out there see and know that.
Chomper and Tim, do not make the mistake of assuming that M$ will not become a player. You like historical examples, so consider the rise of Windows. It took years for M$ to arrive at Win3.1 and look where they are now. They have $53B in cash and a massive installed user base that is generally used to “good enough.”
I do not foresee it happening in the near term. But it seems likely that Apple’s competitors will gradually get closer to the iPod and iTMS in terms of quality. How could they not do so when they have the standard of excellence from which to copy?
“And there are still lots of consumers who don’t quite get that you can use an iPod with your Windows PC”
It’s because most PC users are dumb
Spare some cycles, cure disease
I believe Microsoft is still a threat to the iPod. One because of the enormous amount of FUD being spread by Microsoft, Napster, and iTunes Music Store competitors. I can’t tell you the number of PC users that I met, who aren’t using the iPod and iTunes, who believe the iPod can ONLY be used with music from iTMS. Some have indicated that they want an iPod but don’t want to repurchase all their current MP3 files (as if). PCs users can always be guarenteed to pick up on misinformation and half truths�one because newspapers have just stop being that informative, and two because they generally get information word of mouth, three because they are willing to accept what a salesperson tells them as truth.
I’ve been doing computer support and a wide array of technology work for years, over 10. One of my best friends, who uses a PC at work, calls me routinely to help with various issues on her PC. She knows my house is firmly Mac. But I can’t say how much ridiculous spew comes from her mouth. “My tech support guy said that I need Powerpoint so I can’t get a Mac for home.” “The guy at the computer store says I can’t burn music CDs if I get a Powerbook rather than a normal laptop.” She just trusts what they say is true. She’s known me for years, yet she looks at me as I can’t be trusted on this issue because I am a Mac user. This despite, I’ve never really tried to hard sell her on a Mac at all. I’d be happy if she got a home computer (well so long as its not a Compaq).
Anyway, all that to say is, the reason why Napster, Microsoft, and newspapers spread FUD about Apple, the iPod and other Apple products, is because FUD works so well on the uninformed masses. When Microsoft started the “users want a choice, iPod lock-end argument”; it took less than two weeks for people to start repeating “well I don’t want to be locked into anything” or the “well the iPod/iTunes only play propriterial music,” and the even worse, it can’t play my current CDs.
So yes, when and if Microsoft comes out with a music store, I expect the hype will get even worse, and the number of disinformed people informing others that iPod/iTunes won’t work or shouldn’t work for them will increase. The good news is that ego and the need to be cool can often overwhelm disinformation. I’ve seen people purchase the iPod without a clue of how to get music on it–just because the want to be cool and have an iPod.
This time, Apple is:
* First
* Biggest
* Best
* And people know it!
MS has NEVER had that full list of advantages.
Apple has been successful with the Mac based on only being the best. With ALL of those advantages, iTunes and iPod can only fail if Apple makes a series of huge blunders and MS takes illegal advantage again. (And I’m not talking about a single failed Apple music product or a single lost deal.)
Allgood2,
You should ask your friend to take you to the store or confront the idiot who tells lies. He should be fired for misleading customers or favouring a product over another. He is there to suggest according to the client’s needs and not take sides.
I can’t believe that some morons do this, but I’m not surprised that some douchbags still pretend to be some sorts of nerd wanna be.
Okay, of *course* Microsoft is a threat. It’s the biggest threat out there by far. Their software is on the vast majority of computers in this country, which gives them tremendous leverage. Yeah, they probably won’t have as slick a solution as iTMS and iPod, but counting them out is not wise. They’re too big, and they have too much influence. Apple is, no doubt, spending a lot of time figuring out what they will do if MS gets in the game.
I never said they couldn’t become a player in the market, I was only saying that just because M$ decides to enter a market that doesn’t mean they’re going to dominate it. The Xbox was a very recent example of that, much more recent than your Windows 3.1 example which was 12 years ago now. Times are far different now than they were back then, so it’s not a lock for M$ anymore that they can just throw some money at something and dominate in it like they could a decade ago.
allgood, I totally hear you on that one. I HATE how people believe such a silly thing like “macs can’t burn CDs.” I mean, are you SERIOUS? I’m not sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if macs did that before PCs. It’s too bad, but just keep working against the wrong information!
These analysts should now start looking at Apple and M$ in a new light.
All along they have been complaining that the iPod does not do WMA.
Now with the marketshare that the iPods command, they should be criticizing Napster et al that they do not do iPod!
Why don’t the analyst just give up. Each week one person say’s that Microsoft will break apart the ipod and itunes mania and each week Apple keeps selling more songs and more ipods. One question to analyst why haven’t Microsoft debut a music device?
Answer: because they know Apple’s lead isn’t reachable and why not just ignore that section of the market and go after another portion of the market like the portable movie player.
100,000 pre-sold and NYC approaching sold-out.
Good – if Apple is buying all of Hitachi’s output of microdrives, then no-one else can buy them. Which means they all have to rely on Cornice for anything similar.
What always confuses me about press reports is how no-one seems to be able to see the whole picture.
MS can sell its music for $0.45 for all I care: it doesn’t play on an iPod and that’s the hot player for the foreseeable future. Apple might very well ship 5 million players globally during 2004, either directly or through the HP deal which could easily lead to Apple shipping 20M tracks per month in 2005.
MS in comparison has nothing: no mind share, no fashionista status, no media hype. The WMA player market is a mess: too many players with either poor specs, poor interfaces, poor looks and – more than anything – poor value.
HP’s involvement will help to address MS disinformation in a way that Apple on its own could not hope to achieve.
Here’s a view of 2004:
1G iPod minis from Apple, reducing to $200 by October.
3G iPod maxis from HP from July: costs drop by around 10% when compared to current Apple prices.
4G iPod maxis from Apple (only) around July: larger disks, colour displays and better headphones as standard. About 5-10% more expensive than current model range.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see another ‘licensee’ deal by the autumn with a company completely outside the classic IT space – I’m thinking fashion (DKNY, Gap) and/or sporting (Adidas), but it could be a deal to resell through a classic telecoms supplier or an AOL or whatever.
Once Apple has wide distribution and a wide range of product options, MS can go and boil its head in a bag. This round of the game is close (two years) to being lost from MS’s perspective, with WMA no further forward in real market approval.
steve m.:
I don’t think Apple was the first to introduce CD-burning (Steve Jobs mentioned that they missed that around the time of the original iMac). But I do believe they are the first company to introduce the CD-burner as standard (instead of an add-on option).
IMHO, the best way for Microsoft to beat Apple (with respect to WMA) is to come up with an iTunes/iTMS knockoff that works with iPod. They could sell WMA songs for 45 cents, and their jukebox would convert everything to WMA for storage. Downloading to iPod would convert to AAC on the fly.
Their jukebox would work with several online music sellers, because M$ doesn’t care about selling music, only selling WMA as a format. After this jukebox system became fairly popular (and it would because it’s cheap and pre-installed), they would break iTunes with a service pack. They would make the WMA/AAC conversion just a little more unstable to feed the opinion that buying WMA music is better for the consumer.
M$ has no chance at beating the iPod, but I don’t think they care. What they want is to make WMA ubiquitous. After a few years of following the plan above, pressure for Apple to license WMA for iPod would be much more intense than it is now.
BTW, I’m not saying it’s possible, just that M$ may try it
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Due to antitrust laws i doubt MS could sell songs at such a low price because its a clear indication that they are trying to enter another market and use their cash reserve as a pillow against the losses they will make. Apple and other will kick up no end of fuss.
Of course M$ is a threat to iTMS. More importantly, however, for the first time in ages, Apple is a threat to M$. That is much more remarkable.