What Makes an IPOD successful?

What Makes an IPOD successful? I got an Apple ipod mini music player last Christmas. It was by far the most popular electronic gift worldwide. What made it become popular in a field where much cheaper mp3 players were a dime a dozen in the market? Even with the vaunted Apple name, the ipod took some time to take off. When it was introduced in November of 2001, it took 18 months before it sold 1 million units. Since then it has skyrocketed. It reportedly hit 10 million units sold by end of 2004, with over 2 million sold in the third quarter 2004, and 4.5 million sold in the fourth quarter 2004, which was more than a fivefold increase from less than a million sold in the fourth quarter of 2003. There are many reasons put forward why it is so successful. It is simple to use, it is stylish, it is solid, it works, it is backed by huge marketing, and it is backed by Apple which has a very strong brand. Obviously, all these factors are important, but I would like to advance 2 main reasons.

1.) Style and the cool factor is very important, and Apple has always had lots of it. After all, that is also the reason why people would fork out more money to buy a Levi?s jean or a Nike sneaker. Branding has become so strong that people were not looking to buy an mp3 player, but an ipod. It had become almost like a cultural icon, much akin to saying that you don't want just a watch, but a Rolex, or not just a car, but a BMW. Nokia became the world's largest cell phone manufacturer in the 90s because they realize that what people want was not just a functional cell phone, but a fashion accessory. They came out with cell phone that allows you to change casing to match your clothes, and came out with phones that you could show off. Much the same as the Ipod -- you wouldn?t want to be seen with anything else! Understanding this phenomena is becoming important to success. A successful business should understand why somebody would willingly pay 15,000 dollars for a Cartier watch ( when there are many nice watches for less than 100 dollars) yet choose to drive 2 extra kilometers to buy shampoo at the local price discount club rather than in the supermarket so that she can save 40 cents.

2.) But I always believe that a product succeeds not just on hype but on clear business fundamentals. And one of the things I know that did make Apple successful was their understanding that people would also willingly pay more than what they actually need. After all, what is the point of selling an Ipod that could store 10,000 songs? That could take months or even years to listen to it even just one time! So many manufacturers were selling mp3 players that could just store 1 or 2 hours of songs, instead of 600 hours worth. But then, the technology landscape is really full of examples that shows people behave illogically, and really want to get what they think they MIGHT need, rather than what they actually need. We take pride in getting a camera that can do 8 megapixels resolution even if all we can distinguish or need is just 2 megapixels. We eagerly dump our email system because we find their allowance of 2 megabyte is too tight ( but really adequate), and go for providers that offer 1 gigabyte. Every year, we see millions of people put in money to buy Microsoft Office, when all the features they know how to use can be satisfied with the less expensive Microsoft Works. Virtually every customer we have that uses our accounting or payroll system use only less than half of the features. Every street corner we see cars that can deliver twice or thrice the speed than the owner is really legally allowed to go, or will ever go.

How many of us get Ipods that can store 600 hours of music, when all we have in our collection is just less than 100 hours? Do we really need that much? No, but we would like to believe we do or fear we potentially will. We all like to think big, dream big, and believe that our needs are far more than ordinary. And I guess to providers who know how to utilize this penchant, and who does not provide only what we need, but delight us by providing more, will always have a niche in our pockets.