Entelligence: Understanding the success of the iPod and iPod mini
Every Thursday Michael Gartenberg of Jupiter Research contributes an interesting item of gadget-related research data. Last week he focused on whether or not there was a market for portable video players, this week he examines the success of the iPod and iPod mini:
With reports coming in from all over about iPod shortages and the success of the iPod family and in particular the mini, it's time to look at the reasons that Apple was so successful in the marketplace. First, it's important to note that Apple was not the first to market with an MP3 player or even first to market with a hard drive based one. It was first, however, to factor in three areas that were of most importance to consumers - battery life, form factor and connectivity back to a PC (in terms of sync as well as support for MP3s natively). Apple also carefully balanced these factors so that none of these came at the expense of another. The iPod isn't the smallest device, have the largest capacity or best battery life but it crosses the usability threshold on all three areas and doesn't compromise on any of them
As for the success of the mini, we knew from day one that it was going to be a success. By focusing on the three core attributes and actually improving on form factor, Apple was going to have a hit on their hands. Capacity was not going to be an issue for most consumers, despite what others predicted. Based on a JupiterResearch survey, we pointed out that 90% of consumers who maintain a music collection on their PC have no more than 1,000 songs in their collection and that 77% of consumers interested in purchasing a media player want one with a capacity of 1,000 songs. That translates roughly into the 4 gigabytes of storage that the mini has on board. Mainstream consumers have different needs than technology enthusiasts and Apple understood that.
While the iPod is no doubt a major hit for the holiday season, it?s hardly game over. The market is still relatively un-tapped with fairly small penetration rates. Adding features will help some vendors drive sales, but they will remain niche for the most part. The real action will come as these devices edge closer to mass market price point of $99. It will be interesting to see how Apple plans to drive further into the mainstream, while still protecting their brand and high end lines.
Michael Gartenberg is vice president and research director for the Personal Technology & Access and Custom Research groups at Jupiter Research in New York. Contact him at mgartenberg@jupitermedia.com. His weblog and RSS feed are at http://weblogs.jupiterresearch.com/analysts/gartenberg.
