Apple: iPOD & iTUNES
Apollo,
<< Applying GG principles, Apple is a King in this area, in that they dominate this MP3 player segment with 70% market share. >>
I personally would put music players in the royalty family and position Apple as King. In the general category proprietary is giving way to open quickly. Microsoft inking deals with partners and OMA standards are opening it.
<< Gorilla or King, I am not sure, but others have not been able to provide a similarly robust, but simple experience. >>
That has been key, along with its iconic design, and it could continue to provide them the differentiator that allows them to maintain greater than 2x the market share of their next nearest competitor even though they may have difficulty maintaining share.
Apple is about to be challenged by converged devices from Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson, as well as stand alone devices from Samsung and LG (as well as Sony) and Microsoft wants a piece of the action.
I posted a pretty good BW article on the subject a bit back:
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I also added two posts on the subject on the 3G Wireless board here summarizing some TMF NPI conversations ...
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Currently the infrastructure to support converged mobile devices is lacking. We'll have to see where that is at 18 months from now, and I suspect Steve Jobs has a trick or two up his sleeve beyond the Motorola partnership.
In the interim not everyone is going to want a converged device due to the tradeoffs usually attendant with same. Do you have a view on that or how Apple will fare against the converged device challenge?
Never used an iPOD, myself.
Best,
- Eric - |
