iPod crushes the competition in November.
According to this article at MacObserver, which sites the latest IDG numbers the iPod simply destroyed the competition this November. The iPod held the 1, 3, and 5 spots in the top five and accounted for 60% of sales for MP3 players above $150. What I found most surprising is that the other two in the top 5 were 128MB flash players. No other hard drive player made it at any cost.
Well done Apple.
Well done Apple.
Comments
Once you factor in the under $150 players, the iPod market share doesn't look quite so great. iPod may be the best selling MP3 player, but there are a lot of MP3 players out there and the number is always growing. If Apple gets to arrogant, they may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of competing MP3. They already did that in the PC industry when they were overwhelmed by wintel boxes.
Originally posted by rogue27
I don't know if "crushes" is the right word here.
Once you factor in the under $150 players, the iPod market share doesn't look quite so great. iPod may be the best selling MP3 player, but there are a lot of MP3 players out there and the number is always growing. If Apple gets to arrogant, they may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of competing MP3. They already did that in the PC industry when they were overwhelmed by wintel boxes.
that's what I was thinking too
quickly this could become Apple just being the winning supplier. But, the rest combined will eventually be larger.
Apple has to be careful here.
It is very interesting that the other 2 were flash players. very interesting
but i think the intent is obvious.
Originally posted by rogue27
I don't know if "crushes" is the right word here.
Once you factor in the under $150 players, the iPod market share doesn't look quite so great. iPod may be the best selling MP3 player, but there are a lot of MP3 players out there and the number is always growing. If Apple gets to arrogant, they may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of competing MP3. They already did that in the PC industry when they were overwhelmed by wintel boxes.
I think crushes is the right word that's why I used it
Even if you do factor in the sub $150 players the iPod had ~32% of total market share and as Steve likes to point out, most likely, +50% of the total dollar share. You don't think that 1/3 of all MP3 player sales is a big deal? Where is the Dell or the Gateway or any of the other iPod killers that we've read so much about? These numbers don't even include December. I think by the time Steve gives his "updates" at Macworld the iPod will have 40%+ of the market.
Originally posted by Aquatic
Not unexpected though. Most people don't know or comprehend that fact that iPods are hard drives. Most people don't spend more than double digits for Walkmans. I wouldn't either, but a 5 gig drive with all its extras was worth it
You're right, but with an iPod you are getting so much more then a walkman and people are starting to recognize that. If all you want is the digital equivalent of a walkman (discman excepted) there are a bunch of flash players that will fit your needs just fine and can be had for under $150.
The iPod is for people that see value in having an entire music collection in a device smaller than a deck of cards and an interface simple and elegant enough to quickly find that one song you want to hear out of 5000. It would appear that 1/3 of people think that the iPod is that device and 2/3 of people that are willing to spend a little more.
Originally posted by rok
anyone notice the latest dell dj commercials, with the guy mowing the lawn and baby-sitting to buy the "overpriced" mp3 player? dell doesn't actually show an ipod as the example, but they do throw in the "over twice the battery life of the iPod" in their text on screen. luckily, they don't verbally call attention to it, so if you blink, you'll miss it.
but i think the intent is obvious.
That is because every digital music player that has come out since the iPod has been aiming to take it out of the top spot. Dell is gunning for the iPod so hard it is unbelievable.
Another though. I know that Apple won't get cocky. They will continue to innovate with the iPod and make it better than it already is. Clearly, the iPod is the #1 choice out there, and with good reason. Apple knows this, and have been down this road many times before, only to see their market share continue to shrink. They have put too much into the iPod to let this happen. I see the iPod as the reigning king of digital music players for a long time to come.
Originally posted by applenut
quickly this could become Apple just being the winning supplier. But, the rest combined will eventually be larger.
What kind of fvcked-up world are we living in when it's not enough to be the largest supplier of what is fundamentally a commodity good, you have to outsell all of your competitors, even those that sell a product in a completely different category (flash based).
Imagine a company that sold gourmet butter panicking because they got the latest figures in and it looks like *all* their competitors' sales of butter *and* margarine *and* butter-like spreads nearly added up to theirs. Oh the horror!
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
What kind of fvcked-up world are we living in when it's not enough to be the largest supplier of what is fundamentally a commodity good, you have to outsell all of your competitors, even those that sell a product in a completely different category (flash based).
Imagine a company that sold gourmet butter panicking because they got the latest figures in and it looks like *all* their competitors' sales of butter *and* margarine *and* butter-like spreads nearly added up to theirs. Oh the horror!
the difference. every single person in the ****ing world wants an iPod. Apple has a buz with this thing like no other. Apple was also before all these people and have been in the best position to dominate a market since the Apple II days.
the difference. every single person in the ****ing world wants an iPod. Apple has a buz with
I know its great to because I remember maccentral reporting Apple was going to release a new digital device and when they released the iPod everyone thought "Way to price it out of everyones price range" or "300 Bucks for an MP3 player this thing is going to flop"! My my how our attitudes have changed.
even those that sell a product in a completely different category (flash based).
Sorry but how are flash based MP3 players not in the same category? They are still MP3 players are they not? The iPod is marketed as an MP3 player it is not? Its its main function NOT playing MP3s? If some one is in the market for an MP3 player they still have a choice between a flash-based and an iPod right? so if they buy into flash-based doesn't that mean Apple lost a sale?
My point is Apple is still competing with these flash based MP3 players here.
Originally posted by Mount_my_floppy
Sorry but how are flash based MP3 players not in the same category? They are still MP3 players are they not? The iPod is marketed as an MP3 player it is not? Its its main function NOT playing MP3s? If some one is in the market for an MP3 player they still have a choice between a flash-based and an iPod right? so if they buy into flash-based doesn't that mean Apple lost a sale?
My point is Apple is still competing with these flash based MP3 players here.
Apple does compete with flash based players, but offers an entirely different category of player. Flash players will still be around, but if you look at the reasons the Steve said Apple went with a hard drive it pretty apparent where the real value is. A flash player is not much more then a MP3 version of a walkman. It hold 10-50 songs about what people are used to having on them. The iPod and other hard drive players are dramatically different in that they allow a person to carry their entire music library. A year from now making flash players will be a losing proposition as price cuts continue to erode the margins on them and the price gets too low to sustain a business.
The sale of a flash player may be a loss of sale for Apple temporarily, but when people start using their flash players and get frustrated with having to constantly shuffle what songs on are it, the iPod becomes the first target for acquisition. Every person that has a negative experience with another mp3 player becomes a potential customer for an iPod.
The iPod is the mp3 player to have. The distinctive white headphones are such a status symbol. iPod is becoming the generic term for a mp3 player as walkman did 20 years ago.
What's wrong if Apple has 40% of the total market and continues to maintain that lead? It's not like Rio is going to have the other 60%. The remaining market will be divided up, but nobody is going to have the lead that Apple does. Unless they find a way to screw it up, like releasing a poorly made player that sacrifices on features for a lower price. The iPod brand is worth so much more then a few sales of lower priced players.
Originally posted by Mount_my_floppy
The iPod is marketed as an MP3 player it is not?
Go to www.apple.com/ipod and search for 'mp3'.
It's mentioned 3 times, right at the bottom of the page. Twice in a list of formats, (mp3 and mp3 vbr) and a third time in a sentence about how you'll fit more songs on if you use AAC.
It's marketed as a digital music player. But more importantly the information that Apple wants to convey, in order of importance, going by page position and text size are:
1: iPod
2: 10,000 songs in your pocket
3: For Mac and Windows
So to summarise, it's not in any way sold as an mp3 player, and in fact other 'mp3 players' are now being sold as an iPod just as portable cassette players were sold as a Walkman.
But only the really portable music players could be classed as a Walkman, not all 'portables' e.g. what were once called Ghetto Blasters, made the grade, just like many 'mp3 players' (primarily flash-based) don't make the grade in the iPod category.
my, how things change. but HOW did apple do it? it's fairly obvious that most felt they were a high-end niche product, and the first models had issues (some of which are still being discovered). and people have only now become enamored with their tv ads.
so, of course, this begs the question: is there any way that apple can apply the same techniques to others commodities (i.e. iMac, iBook, etc.)?
Originally posted by DMBand0026
That is because every digital music player that has come out since the iPod has been aiming to take it out of the top spot. Dell is gunning for the iPod so hard it is unbelievable.
Another though. I know that Apple won't get cocky. They will continue to innovate with the iPod and make it better than it already is. Clearly, the iPod is the #1 choice out there, and with good reason. Apple knows this, and have been down this road many times before, only to see their market share continue to shrink. They have put too much into the iPod to let this happen. I see the iPod as the reigning king of digital music players for a long time to come.
Apple just needs to increase battery life, ie: find a better battery out there. m.
The phrase I couldn't remember when i posted previously was digital jukebox. That seems to be tho generic phrase people use when they mean iPod but don't want to give their competitor free publicity. It captures the unique selling point of these machines which is 'lots and lots of music'.
Originally posted by stupider...likeafox
Yeah, it competes with flash based mp3 players but only in the same sense that it competes with those portable mp3-cd players or minidisc walkmans. You could include them in the figures and it would make as much sense as including the flash based mp3 players.
The phrase I couldn't remember when i posted previously was digital jukebox. That seems to be tho generic phrase people use when they mean iPod but don't want to give their competitor free publicity. It captures the unique selling point of these machines which is 'lots and lots of music'.
If iPods were as affordable as flash based players people would choose them.
People are not (for the most part) choosing flash or hard drive...they are choosing based on what they can afford.
so, in that case, they are competing with those. heck, those are exactly what Jobs took aim at upon the iPod's release.
thanks
Originally posted by applenut
If iPods were as affordable as flash based players people would choose them.
People are not (for the most part) choosing flash or hard drive...they are choosing based on what they can afford.
so, in that case, they are competing with those. heck, those are exactly what Jobs took aim at upon the iPod's release.
I'm obviously not making myself clear. Flash based players only compete with iPods to the same degree that other (i.e. non-mp3, non-digital etc.) portable music players compete.
If you wanted to be idiotic about it you could say that *anything* that a consumer wants to buy competes with the iPod because if they can't afford an iPod they might buy comics or a DVD instead.
That's is 'true', but at the same time a pointless, stupid comparison, That's why I said flash-based players are a totally different category from iPods. People looking to buy a 'digital jukebox' aren't buying flash based players because none of them fill that description.
And that is why Jobs "took aim" at the flash-based players on the release of the iPod. They were aiming at totally the wrong market segment. Instead of really understanding the medium of digital music, they were offering a CD (or Minidisc or cassette) worth of tunes while costing far more. The iPod on the other hand, although it costs more again, offered far more value in terms of music capacity/convenience. And that's why it's beating those same players in total sales even though it costs about three times as much.
And that is why these rumours of "cheap" and/or "mini" iPods still make no sense.
A) smaller cost more money (per unit of storage)
Understanding those two facts is what made the iPod better than anything else on the market. Now that others have entered with me-too products built on the same realization it is Apple's build quality and UI design that keeps them ahead. Trying to enter the cut-throat world of cheap flash-based players would make as much sense as trying to compete with the bottom end of the white-box PC market.
Compare the 300,000 plus G5's sold this past quarter and an update right around the corner to maintain momentum. This will allow Apple to put more "value" into the consumer iMac line, i.e. lower profit margins for increased market share.
This is will also be true for the Powerbook/iBook equasion.
Top line revenue growth should now be Apple's goal, even with reduced margins, net revenue will explode and the stock value will grow.
Can you imagine if Apple stock gets a head of steam what could be done as acquision currency? Good days are coming, the best is about to unfold.
8) 8) 8)