Re: iPod vs. Creative.
Originally posted by tychay
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BTW, the fact that they are rebranding MusicMatch shows that unlike Apple, Dell is not leveraging their internet infrastructure to support digital downloads. Nor are they leveraging their supply chain advantages in producing the player. Nor is their any retail advantage beyond "bundling"--a big advantage for a big ticket item like a computer, but negligible for a consumer item like an MP3 player. While Dell's strategy is in keeping with their modus operandi, it is a much weaker offering than it appears because it doesn't play to their strengths and does nothing to overcome perceived Dell weaknesses: they have no previous experience in software; they do not develop any hardware but simply streamline hardware component assembly and bundling; they close themselves out to retailers through direct sale.
Exactly... This is a me-too offering, and hardly deserves the rancor that people are throwing at it...
I mean, may as well complain that Dell makes computers in a market where Apple makes them too...
The iPod is a sweet device-- it's no surprise that others-- Creative, Dell, whoever, would take some cues from what does well in the market.
The iPod has been largely unchanged from it's original release-- most likely because there's not much they can do to improve it at this point. Not surprising that if Apple can't figure out how to improve it that Creative wouldn't be able to think of anything either...
I'm kind of surprised that Dell is taking a step into the online music market-- it's pretty far from their core competences... I guess that's why they just re-branded another service.
I wonder if they talked to Apple about re-badging iTMS, or rebadging the iPod. I'd guess that Apple would refuse such a deal... Shame, because it would really boost Apple's volumes, but I think Apple is more interested in trying to establish their own presence...
Also interesting that a company so focused on buisness users would make such a huge step towards consumers... Maybe they see this as a way of establishing themselves as a consumer company as well.
Dell's doing nothing more than sticking their toe in the water at this point. They want to look at expanding their market image, and to do that they need their name on it. If they put their name on an iPod people would be much more upset.
Yes, this means Apple won't have this market to themselves. They'll have to compete, and settle for a market share rather than the whole market. My guess is they'll do what they've done in the past and produce a higher quality product targeted at a smaller share of the market and they'll go on living as a successful company with happy and loyal customers.
If WMA becomes a standard (god forbid), then iPod will start to support it-- or it will die. I'm sure MS would be happy to see their codecs running on whatever hardware is out there.
If the DRM is too restrictive, the market will die and the labels will continue to see their revenue diminish.
Or we'll all just look at each other and say "baaaaaa" while we wait for the labels to fleece us...
If no one else is willing to, then I'll be the one to wish Dell the best of luck in their new venture. The more, the merrier. Online music sales will become standard, MP3 players will be the new walkman, and now there's one more powerful voice telling the labels they're too tight and charging too much.
And when the Recording Industry Ass. of America gets up in front of Congress again to whine about how Internet distribution is killing their buisness, Dell will be standing with Jobs saying that any curtailment would kill theirs.
