Marketing the iPod shuffle

This has already been done ad-nauseam throughout the web, but I just wanted to put my 2 cents in. The iPod shuffle is about changing the rules of the digital music player market. It is not about competing on a feature-by-feature level. This product is about marketing. Apple can outspend the others on marketing. Creative doesn't quite get this, as every comment I've seen from them goes into how much better their features are, or how many more features they have. Features aren't as important in this space. It needs to be good enough, but more importantly, it needs to make the buyer feel better for making that decision. This isn't normal in the computer products business -- it is quite unique to Apple, but it is normal in the consumer electronics business. It's normal in any consumer product business. This is key, and this is how Apple is competing. The other important factor to consider here is margin. Apple likes margin. Margin allows them to spend what they do. With all the components that aren't in the iPod shuffle, the cost is a lot lower. The price is just below the competition, but the competition has spent money on LCD screens, FM tuners, and recording. Where do you think that leaves their margin? Most of their competition is focused on razor thin margins in order to compete (with all those extra features). Some say that this is capitalizing on the iPod's iconographic status, and this is partially true. It certainly doesn't hurt their marketing efforts. The iPod was the beachhead into this market, but they needed to tap more of the market, as it's still growing. They aren't sacrificing margin yet, as there is still a long push ahead. The iTunes Music Store ties all these products together, and it was also the factor that solidified this market. It is still small compared to the rest of the music industry, and that is why they need the margin from the iPod. Until this market is mature, the two products need each other. The iPod provides the revenue to build up the store, while the store provides legitimacy for the iPod. The lock-in allows Apple to control the whole product experience, and will help the market grow. Apple will only give up control when it absolutely has to.

Planned Obsolescence

Never quite finished this though, but I'm posting it anyway. I had this flash of a thought while driving home yesterday, and while some won't think it very insightful, I felt the need to write about it anyway. It seems that most modern media companies are predicated on planned obsolescence. This includes audio, video, and software. What doesn't fit into this realm is print media -- books. Books have had to contend with the same copyright issues as other media, yet they have not suffered the wrath of obsolescence -- I can still read a book that was published well over a hundred years ago (granted that I understand the language). When it comes to modern media, there as always been the issue of the player and compatibility. Edison used it quite successfully for both audio (phonograph) and video (film). In my lifetime, audio has transferred from vinyl records though cassette media, up to CDs, and now the publishers are pushing both Super Audio CDs and DVD-Audio. Granted, technology has made the newer recordings a richer experience, but this has also left the industry with a great taste of planned obsolescence. They can make more money off selling the same content on new media than they can making new content. Books don't suffer this fate, because they never become unreadable. There is a thriving business selling old books. Old media also has this trade, but try finding an Edison-compatible recording in one of those places. DRM, or Digital Rights Management, restricts this transfer of media in the all-software age of audio. Old software also becomes harder to read -- does anyone have a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive any more? How about an 8 inch floppy drive? I think this is one of the prime reasons behind the open source software movement. If the platform developed on becomes scarce, then the software can at least be ported. This isn't true of binary-only software, because the developer is most likely long gone. Emulation is the trick in this case, but the software itself will never evolve. And software was meant to evolve. And this is why people are so concerned with open source software. To preserve rights to their data both now and in the future. The Word lock-in forces you to keep a copy of the software in working condition in order to keep access to your data.

Infinite Copyright

Although the museum finally admitted they were incorrect on this issue, this incident shows how our changing view of copyright has turned into a control mechanism. Even if the paintings were copyrighted, the artists are long-dead and copyright should be expired. People now view copyright as lasting almost forever. This is relatively new legislation, as the original intent was to grant only a small monopoly over a work to encourage authors to create new works. The reason the copyright expires is to encourage derivative works. Stop sketching, little girl -- those paintings are copyrighted!: "Xeni Jardin: Museum security guard told a child to stop sketching paintings in a museum -- because they're copyrighted.

It is standard operating procedure for students of art to learn by example by sketching masterpieces in an art museum. A budding artist in Durham found that the time honored tradition was challenged while seeking inspiration at the Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art exhibit in Raleigh. Over the weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art there were works by Matisse, Picasso, Monet, Degas and some Illanas. Julia Illana is a second grader who was visiting the popular exhibit there with her parents and was sketching the paintings in her notebook. 'I love to draw in my notebook,' Illana said. Her sketch of Picasso's Woman with Bangs, which came out pretty good, and Matisse's Large Reclining Nude got the promising artist into trouble with museum security. A museum guard told Julia's parents that sketching was prohibited because the great masterpieces are copyright protected, a concept that young Julia did not understand until her mother explained the term.

Link (Thanks, Cowicide)" (Via Boing Boing.)