Lacene
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2006
- Posts
- 184
- Likes
- 0
Quote:
This goes way back to the PC/Mac wars between IBM & Apple, and is much like the Hatfields & McCoys, where so much time has passed that most involved in the "hatefest" can't remember the initial reason for all the bad feelings.
Bill Gates and Microsoft falls right in the middle of the PC/Mac war, and is seen as somewhat of a Benedict Arnold by the Apple-ites, only worse.
I've always said that until a DAP maker attempts to market their product in the US on the scale that Apple markets the iPod, it's pointless arguing about whether that DAP will compete with the iPod to any serious degree, much less "overthrow" the iPod. For the typical first-time buyer, if you see the iPod side-by-side in a store with another DAP, and you've heard a lot of nice things about the iPod, but haven't really heard too much about the other DAP, which one would you buy?
And don't talk about the extensive accessories for the iPod: that's a pyramid scheme. The third-party accessories do not come for a product unless that product sells, or is projected to sell heavily due to name recognition. And a product doesn't sell nor is recognized unless it's manufacturer finds a way to get the consumer's attention. Sure, all things being equal, there may be other DAP's out there that just sitting on a store shelf catches the store-shoppers eyes quicker than the iPod. But Apple doesn't play by those rules: they advertise. They get to the consumer before that consumer walks into the store, so that when they do, and they're looking to buy a DAP, they know about the iPod, and very little else.
The Microsoft Zune and the Creative Zen Vision:M are too very different animals. You can't tell by looking at them, but they are. The ZVM is made by someone who will steadfastly refuse to market it's product (at least in the US), no matter how well built that product is, or how much market potential it may have. The Zune will be marketed VERY heavily - once again, people who are familiar with the iPod's marketing have lived in a vacuum since 2001. Microsoft's marketing machine easily dwarfs anything Apple has ever done, and we'll probably witness the power of it very soon. Because of this, the Zune and the iPod are exactly the same type of animal.....
I just think that the Zune will impact the iPod more than it will the other players, because the Zune will target the consumer demographic that the iPod more identifies with. Other DAP-makers that feed on the market's underbelly will still find sustenance there: the Almighty Zune will pass right over them like a huge, black storm cloud as it marches toward the massive cyclopean entity known as iPod, and it won't even notice the little Zens, Clixes and Sansas scurrying about.
If the makers of these players ever chose to reach for the golden ring, and actually attempt to compete eye-to-eye with the iPod, and now the Zune, then they would be in trouble, because they would simply be overwhelmed. But they never had a dog in that fight to begin with, so they won't get bit.
| Originally Posted by Jokieman The deal is those other companies have already lost. Apple holds an insane market share for the portable MP3 player market and it's companion software Itunes. the Zune will probably not do well, this year, but Microsoft has proven (with the Xbox) that when it really wants to compete, it can (Xbox 360). Honestly I know a lot of people hate Microsoft, and it's an old hatred, and a lot of people probably don't even know why, exactly, they dislike microsoft so much, especially now. |
This goes way back to the PC/Mac wars between IBM & Apple, and is much like the Hatfields & McCoys, where so much time has passed that most involved in the "hatefest" can't remember the initial reason for all the bad feelings.
Bill Gates and Microsoft falls right in the middle of the PC/Mac war, and is seen as somewhat of a Benedict Arnold by the Apple-ites, only worse.
I've always said that until a DAP maker attempts to market their product in the US on the scale that Apple markets the iPod, it's pointless arguing about whether that DAP will compete with the iPod to any serious degree, much less "overthrow" the iPod. For the typical first-time buyer, if you see the iPod side-by-side in a store with another DAP, and you've heard a lot of nice things about the iPod, but haven't really heard too much about the other DAP, which one would you buy?
And don't talk about the extensive accessories for the iPod: that's a pyramid scheme. The third-party accessories do not come for a product unless that product sells, or is projected to sell heavily due to name recognition. And a product doesn't sell nor is recognized unless it's manufacturer finds a way to get the consumer's attention. Sure, all things being equal, there may be other DAP's out there that just sitting on a store shelf catches the store-shoppers eyes quicker than the iPod. But Apple doesn't play by those rules: they advertise. They get to the consumer before that consumer walks into the store, so that when they do, and they're looking to buy a DAP, they know about the iPod, and very little else.
The Microsoft Zune and the Creative Zen Vision:M are too very different animals. You can't tell by looking at them, but they are. The ZVM is made by someone who will steadfastly refuse to market it's product (at least in the US), no matter how well built that product is, or how much market potential it may have. The Zune will be marketed VERY heavily - once again, people who are familiar with the iPod's marketing have lived in a vacuum since 2001. Microsoft's marketing machine easily dwarfs anything Apple has ever done, and we'll probably witness the power of it very soon. Because of this, the Zune and the iPod are exactly the same type of animal.....
I just think that the Zune will impact the iPod more than it will the other players, because the Zune will target the consumer demographic that the iPod more identifies with. Other DAP-makers that feed on the market's underbelly will still find sustenance there: the Almighty Zune will pass right over them like a huge, black storm cloud as it marches toward the massive cyclopean entity known as iPod, and it won't even notice the little Zens, Clixes and Sansas scurrying about.
If the makers of these players ever chose to reach for the golden ring, and actually attempt to compete eye-to-eye with the iPod, and now the Zune, then they would be in trouble, because they would simply be overwhelmed. But they never had a dog in that fight to begin with, so they won't get bit.
