Is the iPod Losing Ground? - The Competition
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Microsoft threw its hat into the MP3 ring with the release of the Zune. Microsoft did quite well when they introduced the Xbox into the video game market and hoped to repeat that success with the Zune. Microsoft included some rather nice features that the iPod doesn’t have to help lure people away from the iPod, such as a bigger screen. Watching videos on the fifth generation iPod isn’t the best experience; the screen is too tiny and you have to hold it up to your face when viewing a video.
Sandisk is another big player in the MP3 market. They produce flash based players called Sansa to compete with the iPod shuffle and nano. Their competition for the nano sports video support, an FM tuner and user replaceable batteries, all of which the iPod nano lacks. The Sansa is also available with greater storage capacity. Their newest version, pictured above, supports Wi-Fi as well.
Apple's competitors have stepped up and their products now offer more features than the iPod. While the iPod has the advantage in size I feel many consumers are going to want the additional features instead of the smaller size.
When the iPod first came out, it was one of the few players that had a hard drive. At the time most were flash based and had very limited capacity. The initial iPod had 5 GB of space; which was exponentially more than anyone else had. Aside from the coolness factor, the amount of space made it a hot seller. People could put thousands of songs on it, compared to a hundred on the smaller capacity players.
Flash forward to 2007, and sizes have become massive. The flash based players are now at 6 or more GBs, more than the original iPod. Hard drive based players are now up to 80 GB. As the capacity increased, a player's MP3 capacity has or will surpass the typical user's music library. If users only have a few gigabytes of music, why spend more money on a hard drive player when everything can fit onto a flash based player?
In recent years the new hybrid devices have hit the market. A BlackBerry is a combination of a PDA and a cell phone, and it has flourished. BlackBerries are great devices for business people that want to be able to keep in constant contact with the phone and also have documents and emails at their disposal at all times.
We are even seeing cell phones now that offer a music player and expandable storage, such as Motorola's Razr. The fifth generation of iPod is a hybrid itself. It’s not just a music player anymore, it also plays videos. Apple had to do this due to competition. What will the sixth generation have in store? Apple has taken a huge step towards an all in one device. They will soon begin selling the iPhone, a PDA/phone/iPod. These hybrid devices are expensive, though, and may be out of reach for the vast majority of the market.
Next: iTunes losing too? >>
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