Posted on 01/06/2006 5:34:40 PM PST by Panerai
Apple's competitors are unlikely to make a dent in the iPod's market share, and the iPod will continue to dominate the market in 2006 according to one research firm. Investment research firm Piper Jaffray senior analyst Gene Munster today released a research note stating that he believes Apple's competitors are still lagging in terms of form factor, intuitive user interface, and "cool factor." The firm does not believe that new Nano- and Shuffle-like players SanDisk and Samsung, which surfaced today, will erode the iPod dominance and said that it is bewildered by Sony's offerings: "We continue to be shocked at how Sony's devices miss the mark despite the resources that are being put into creating a competitive product."
The analyst believes non-iPod devices must compete by lowering prices to gain adoption, however Apple has such massive relative shipment volume that other MP3 player manufacturers are not able to reproduce the company's low-cost strategy. In light of this, Apple is expected to continue its race to stay ahead of the competition in 2006.
"While 2005 was clearly a year heavy in iPod innovation at Apple, we do not expect a slowdown in new/updated iPods in 2006. In addition to new and updated iPods, 2006 will be a significant year for the Mac line." Munster believes that the incorporation of Intel, as well as the introduction of new form factors will both likely lead to the launch of several new/updated Macs this year, revealing more changes to the Mac lineup than were seen in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at macnn.com ...
Ping
I bought my wife a 6GB Creative Zen Micro. She loves it. It plays all the music we have, and I didn't have to install iTunes. I refuse to send Apple any money. I just don't like them.
"I just don't like them."
Well, at least you're honest.
I use a 30GB Creative Zen Jukebox. Real nice for lots of audiobook files on the road.
But I learned my lesson about iPods and high school girls this Christmas. I got my niece a 20GB Creative Zen. Next day I was back at Best Buy "trading up" to an iPod for her.
Rotten kid. She's lucky I like her.
I hope you got the free $50 gift card when you made the first purchase to help offset the cost of spoiling your niece. We used ours to buy the 2 year replacement warranty.
I find Itunes to be a brilliant piece of software. Sure, it's big, insanely proprietary, and finicky, but in the end it's the only program for a true music fan.
An interesting read on a Sony product.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
"I hope you got the free $50 gift card when you made the first purchase to help offset the cost of spoiling your niece. We used ours to buy the 2 year replacement warranty."
Hmmm. Nice strategy to get $50.00 off on the purchase of an iPod.
I noticed they were making somewhat of a scene about their earnings announcement in about a week plus. I have to wonder what they have up their collective sleeves.
There are alternatives to iTunes... http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/ Anapod is what I use.
This is one of the reasons why I dont like the Ipod... I prefer where I can actually change the batteries. I know this happens because it happend to my PDA.
http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/
I bought a 40Gb Creative Zen Touch this year - it's phenomenal. Plus, I don't need a new religion.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Saw the video. WOW, is that for real?
Give me a break, do you even know how old that is? You can change the battery now for about $30-50
iTunes is a great piece of software, much better than anything Real Networks has come out with. It also easily beats out Creative MusicSource and Windows Media Playe
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