“Some pooh-poohed the assorted colors of Apple Computer Inc.’s iPod mini as frivolous, but the digital music players are a smash hit and have become fashion accessories in and of themselves. Beyond being just a nifty way to listen to music while riding on a bus or working out at the gym, the iPod mini’s eye-pleasing design in five metallic colors has made it a reflection of the user’s personality, analysts said,” Duncan Martell reports for Reuters.
“‘They are a point of differentiation for the individual and they’re almost a status symbol,’ said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies. ‘Because of the colors and its small size, it really is an expression of personality.’ Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media, says: ‘Even though those white ear buds aren’t really that great, people want to wear them with an iPod so others know that they’re carrying an iPod,'” Martell reports.
“And while the larger, white iPods that are about the size of a deck of playing cards have been a huge success, it’s the smaller business-card-sized iPod mini that has resonated with the digerati and could spawn design innovation in other compact digital music players, analysts said,” Martell reports. “‘We can only hope,’ Bajarin said. ‘I would hope that Apple’s innovation in industrial design spills out to the rest of the industry.’
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Why are the Mac and Mac OS X not recognized by analysts as innovations that they would hope would spill out into the rest of the personal computer industry? Why is the iPod achieving for Apple what the Mac can’t seem to do? Perhaps because the general public has not been shown effectively by Apple what Mac OS X is and what it can do? Hopefully, the iPod’s halo effect will open more eyes to Apple quality and lead people to consider buying a Mac for their next computer. If Wintellites like their Apple iPods so much, they’d absolutely love Apple’s Macintosh computers running Mac OS X. Unfortunately, Apple is treating Mac OS X as some huge secret for some unknown reason. Will Windows computer users/iPod owners make the leap on their own without Apple giving them a push to Mac OS X?