I had some thoughts on the iPod mini. Disregarding the delays in sales and whatever (possible?) problems are being encountered with the design, I think this product will be a smash hit once it goes global.
I just spent 2 weeks in Germany, and Italy and the only real signs I saw of the iPod was in Berlin with a few advertisements along the eurail. But one thing really struck me, many people were listening to conventional CD players on the trains and seemed pretty into their music with cool headphones (sennhein....whatever, etc.), CD player cases with their CD's all organized, etc. This means there is a significant music applications market there.
The most significant thing I noticed, however, was the style in Germany and Italy. Nearly every person had a very stylish pair of shoes that had some sort of leather and bright coloring. Indeed, most of the style there revolves around bizarre coloring and trendy fashion statements. I think their style will really gravitate toward the iPod mini, and forsee that it will really sell well there. I can see all those europeans with their eccentric shoes and flashy color clothes wearing an iPod mini instead of their boring old CD player that's clunky and outdated. I feel like in America, teens would be more drawn to the mini due to its style points, and more "sophisticated" buyers would spring for more storage capacity of the 3G iPods. In Europe, I could see just about everyone going for the cheaper, cooler mini.
This is why I beleive that once apple opens a few stores there (I was in Dresden, Germany for 4-5 days and they are opening an apple store across from the Max Planck institute there, probably because the whole institute is Mac oriented...) and launches a more aggressive ad campaign, the iPod mini will really take off! The player is super cool, comes in fashionable colors, and is small/portable/etc. I think the europeans will go nuts over it, what do y'all think?
I just spent 2 weeks in Germany, and Italy and the only real signs I saw of the iPod was in Berlin with a few advertisements along the eurail. But one thing really struck me, many people were listening to conventional CD players on the trains and seemed pretty into their music with cool headphones (sennhein....whatever, etc.), CD player cases with their CD's all organized, etc. This means there is a significant music applications market there.
The most significant thing I noticed, however, was the style in Germany and Italy. Nearly every person had a very stylish pair of shoes that had some sort of leather and bright coloring. Indeed, most of the style there revolves around bizarre coloring and trendy fashion statements. I think their style will really gravitate toward the iPod mini, and forsee that it will really sell well there. I can see all those europeans with their eccentric shoes and flashy color clothes wearing an iPod mini instead of their boring old CD player that's clunky and outdated. I feel like in America, teens would be more drawn to the mini due to its style points, and more "sophisticated" buyers would spring for more storage capacity of the 3G iPods. In Europe, I could see just about everyone going for the cheaper, cooler mini.
This is why I beleive that once apple opens a few stores there (I was in Dresden, Germany for 4-5 days and they are opening an apple store across from the Max Planck institute there, probably because the whole institute is Mac oriented...) and launches a more aggressive ad campaign, the iPod mini will really take off! The player is super cool, comes in fashionable colors, and is small/portable/etc. I think the europeans will go nuts over it, what do y'all think?