Finally, some A&K customers are starting to wake from their hypnotic trances. Why its taken so long is a mystery, but at least it's finally happening.
The A&K branding exercise has been artificially choreographed, all along, as an attempt to sell slick, but technically ordinary, hardware at exorbitant prices, to those with money to burn.
I've always objected to this contrived and disingenuous approach to business, but have nonetheless had respect for the engineering staff who, for the most part, have produced some very nicely-engineered compact DAPs, which isn't easy to do. My issue with A&K is not with their engineers, but with the marketing, overall ethos, and attitude towards their customers as nameless, faceless cash-cows.
The AK120 infamously doubled the asking price of the AK100, just for adding a 2nd Wolfson chip. Many cried 'foul' but still it sold by the thousands.
'Be The Ultimate' was the tagline for the AK240 release, which, to anyone with even a basic understanding of psychology, glaringly smacks of deliberately exploiting people's Freudian insecurities.
I've been unpopular for stating some of these opinions, in the past, invariably being shouted-down by A&K fans, who've told me if I can't afford an AK DAP I should leave it to those who can afford it. There's a degree of legitimacy to that argument, but it has always overlooked the core point that it is not the cost of A&K DAPs, per se, which is the issue, but rather whether that cost is legitimately justified by the hardware, and, even more than that, whether the company is ethical in it's marketing, ethos, and attitude towards customers.
Although I've been shouted-down by many A&K fans, I actually have some sympathy (not much, but some) for those A&K customers who've shelled-out close to $3000 bucks for an AK240, only to have their 'Ultimate' purchase devalued, mere months later, by the recent product announcements.
I don't like seeing people treated with casual disregard, even if those people have not necessarily seen eye-to-eye with me, in the past.
But, rather than wishing iRiver would crumble, I would be happy to see them seriously revise their company ethos and, with some humility, start remembering to treat their customers with more respect, in all aspects of their business. There is a place for AK DAPs, priced less-exorbitantly, hardware-revised less frequently, and supported better by customer services, and if these things were to come-to-pass, many more people would be amenable to their presence in the market place, and I would actually expect their yearly profits to increase as a consequence.
Until, and unless, that happens, the only way to make them listen is to wake from trance and start voting with one's dollars.
