iPod a fad...so says Kevin Rollins

brianh

Registered
I just saw an article today that Kevin Rollins (Dell guru), said that iPods are just a fad. Funny...didn't they say talking pictures were just a fad. The list goes on.

I would hate to be a Dell stockholder right now. With Rollins spouting that kind of stuff. I would want my company to try to get in on he action, instead of poo-pooing the competition that continues to challenge the electronics world with new innovations.

Who knows maybe SJ will be asked to take over at Dell?
 
iPods are a fad. They are a phenomenon whose popularity is at least partially social in nature. It does not mean they are not a great product but the dominance of iPods in the portable player market would be difficult to sustain without social influence being a factor. The Shuffle brings little new technologically to the market. What the shuffle and its bigger cousins bring is style.

Whether it will be a short-lived fad is another question.
 
Probably the closest fad I can think of is the Sony Walkman. Nowadays, you can buy a personal stereo from a hundred different brands, and the market is more fragmented, however Sony is still selling the Walkman under that name, and still selling strong after more than 20 years. I expect iPod will be much the same, the market will become fragmented, and Apple will lose both shares and sales eventually, but it will always be one of the strongest contenders.
 
Sounds about right to me. I suspect that by the 20 year mark the iPod will have evolved more than the walkman has though.
 
You see, the problem with these companies criticizing the iPod is that they're not criticizing the iPod -- they're criticizing the "fad" of portable, digital music, which the iPod happens to be leading.

Then these companies, after saying it's a fad and the rage will die, try to create a digital music player to compete with the iPod in the very area that's supposedly not going to last much longer.

Right. I love me some hypocrites.
 
Where Sony blew it was not connecting the dots and realizing that the Walkman brand was so powerful that they should have been the initiators of something like the iPod instead of a follower. It's like Polaroid resisting digital cameras and then they end up being a follower even though their brand identity is a natural candidate for digital (instant) technology. Duh.

iPod is the new Walkman. What makes it so powerful is (as has been said) is its social power. Look at all the peripherals that do nothing useful, but lots for image. For crying out loud, they sell a U2 iPod. It's about style, status, hipness, coolness, newness, and more. Oh, and it also happens to play music.
 
I agree -- while the "coolness" factor may eventually wear thin and go away, the technology itself is the next walkman, and the iPod is the most technologically advanced, easy-to-use portable digital music player.

White earbuds may go the way of bell bottom pants, but portable digital music is here to stay, and Apple not only got the styling but also the technology perfect on their first try.
 
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