>>Walkman--------or--------- iPod
Which one has the most recognition today?<<
Jeff -
When the Walkman was first introduced, it was quite a phenomenon. It was a whole new type of product. In the early 80's I worked for a while in an electronics store near Grand Central in New York. I worked on the Walkman counter.
The brand name "Walkman" quickly came to be used generically. People would come in looking to buy a Walkman, but not necessarily a Sony. Or they'd say, "I bought a Walkman here last week. It's an Aiwa."
Interestingly, there seems to be no danger of that happening with the iPod. Nobody says, "I bought an iPod last week. It's a Dell." Part of the reason for that is that so few people actually buy the competitions' products, but part of it is that everybody knows the iPod is made by Apple.
The iPod was less of a breakthrough than the original Walkman, since hard drive-based MP3 players already existed. Yet it has been more successful than the Walkman was. The name "iPod" has become iconic. You hear it everywhere. I listen to KCRW, a local NPR station. They are talking about podcasting now. They say that the programs are available for automatic downloading to your iPod or MP3 player. The iPod is specific, but MP3 players are generic.
It is certainly not delusional to point out that marketing experts consider Apple to be one of the best known brand names in the world. The Apple logo is instantly recognizable.
Sony has widespread brand recognition, too, of course.
In terms of the iPod brand name, though, there simply is no question that it is firmly established all over the world. "Walkman" is still recognizable, but it has nowhere near the current strength of "iPod". "Psyc" isn't even on the horizon yet.
- Allen
PS: It's funny that Sony couldn't come up with a better name than "Psyc Network Walkman". For its time, "Walkman" was a brilliant name. "Playstation" is great. What the hell happened? |
