Apple sees jump in revenue

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RE: Gimme a break...

>Calling iPod an innovation is like saying Microsoft invented the Windows User Interface.

Did he call the iPod an innovation? Beyond that, it is definitely hard to ignore the impact the iPod has had. It was innovative in that it challenged the perception of what an mp3 player could or should be.

Before the iPod came out, mp3 players were limited to 128 or 256MB. Some some allowed the use of media cards to store tracks. Some others worked with CDRs, but none of them had any mass storage capabilities. In addition, they all had fairly clunky interfaces (I know... I had a Rio and while it definitely did the job, it wasn't easy to cycle through tracks to find what I was looking for, etc.) The iPod came out and suddenly there was an mp3 player with a 5+ GB capacity, a player that could transfer tracks to and from your computer at extremely quick speeds, a player that made song selection easy, let users create playlists on the fly and more. In addition to all that, it was a portable hard drive as well.

Shortly after the iPod was released a couple knock-offs came out, but they were all definitely not as nice as the iPod. They used the hard drive concept to provide mass storage, but they were bulky and didn't manage to adopt any better of an interface. The interfaces were still haphazard and the difficulties in using them effectively were actually amplified by the fact that these players could now hold a couple thousand tracks. As the iPod continued to add features and grew in size, eventually real contenders showed up, like Dell's and Rio's new players. Their interfaces may still not be as good as the iPod's, but they're light years ahead of the old interfaces and they're definitely easy to use, they've adopted smaller form factors so they're not as heavy or bulky as earlier attempts (I think the Rio is actually a hair smaller than the standard iPod,) and in general they're great products that belong in the same class as the iPod.

While introducing an mp3 player was not an innovation on its own, what Apple did with theirs definitely was. They introduced new ideas and concepts into a class of product that already existed, and they completely changed the perception of what that product could be. Now, instead of having to choose from a handful of crappy 128MB players on the market, consumers have the option to select very solid high-end devices that hold thousands of songs and do a lot more. Beyond that, they can select from a few different manufacturers and have confidence in whichever they decide to go with. That makes it a better market for consumers because consumer choice is what it's all about.

Posted by: JakAttak   Posted on: 01/15/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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