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The Billion Dollar iPod Accessories Market
OleSurinam writes "The NYTimes has a story about the lucrative iPod accessories market." From the article: "Making add-ons for the iPod is a $1 billion business. Does that sound like hyperbole? Consider this. Last year, Apple sold 32 million iPods, or one every second. But for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory, estimates Steve Baker, an analyst for the NPD Group, a research firm. That works out to three or four additional purchases per iPod."
... and it's totally owned by Belkin.
But I'm not complaining, I'm honestly just jealous.
Consider this. Last year, Apple sold 32 million iPods, or one every second. But for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory, estimates Steve Baker, an analyst for the NPD Group, a research firm. That works out to three or four additional purchases per iPod.
So for every $3-seconds, there's an additional $1-second for accessories. That means about 10.6 million $1-seconds last year, which works out to a bit over 2,944 $1-hours, 122 $1-days, or about 17.5 $1-weeks!
That means for every iPod-year, there's an iPod-accessory-quarter!!!!
Go statistics!
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
This is exactly why I wonder why Apple has not become more of an "exclusive provider" for most of that stuff. Mind you, I like the idea of being able to buy a comparable-quality item on the cheap, but still... It's very unlike Apple to give away that kind of market share.
I'd like to know more about the lessons Steve learned from his time merchandising kids movies with Pixar and Disney, being on The Gap's board and the influence of Millard Drexler. The iPod ecosystem seems like an old-fashioned consumer goods story - accessories, add-ons, merchandising (I'm thinking of Star Wars et al), etc and having friendly, inviting stores in which to buy the goods. How far along would they be without those Apple Stores?
It seems to me the New Apple's ability to actually capitalise on a successful product is chiefly due to killer merchandising plus an expanding retailing empire. And a bit of good luck!
I'm sure this will be a case study in a business textbook one day ...
But for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory, estimates Steve Baker, an analyst for the NPD Group, a research firm.
If we can measure the exact number of Ipods sold, why not the same for ipod accessories? Why this "guesstimate" from the Department Of Pulling Statistics Out Of My Ass?
My main gripe with accessories is that they don't work with all the numerous versions of the iPod.
Take this example, I'm the happy owner of an iPod mini (which did not had a long life), but the great iTalk does not (and will probably never) work with the mini. See this Griffin iPod Compatibility chart, you'll find out the huge gap in iPod accessories compatibilities. (no I don't work for griffin, I'm just making a point here, I'm pretty sure other accessories providers have the same "problem"...)
Animoog.org
I like the circular logic of people not wanting their precious iPods to get scratched, so they buy a case that looks like a wallet, but protects their iPod from scatches, that no one will ever see since the cool design of the iPod and the non-existant scratches will never been seen! Same logic goes for ppl that buy bras for their cars.
My 20G iPod is scratched to hell, and it should be; I've used it daily for almost 2 years! My car has marks on the front, and it should: I've driven it for almost 2 years, will allot of highway driving!
Don't get me started on Grecim's men's forumla or botox treatments...
fak3r.com
Sure, they're inviting. Rows and rows of fab-looking Macs hooked up to the Internet; heaps of sexy creative women (usually with their cute boyfriends, alas); sales people on the floor who are friendly but never pushy. I like the clean - but not austere - look of the place. It encourages me to fill the space as I will ... much like the white of a blank page or canvas.
Then again, perhaps they're a wee bit too neat-freak white, eh?
Ok, even if Belkin was, say, 99.999999% of all iPod acessories sold, I'm sure their margins would still be greater on the printer cables.
Griffin is actually the reason I've gone from mildly ignoring the iPod to active revulsion over the accursed device. I can accept the inexplicable bumper crop of white colored single-purpose peripherials, the profusion of morons thinking iPod was is and will be the first and only hard drive mp3 player, but watching what was formerly one of the greatest human computer interface companies in the world reduce their entire r&d to these white shiny peripherials... well... enough is enough. You've got your false god Jobs, thats fine, I respect your beliefs even if I disagree with them, but please leave your pagan devil worshipping their, stop oppressing my own religion; stop trying to convert our Saints to your blasphemy.
Look, just give us back Griffin and I'll suceed that iPod is the master device. Anything, just give em back!
One word; PowerMate.
Big. Shiny. Knob.
Best. Interface. Evar.
Love and kisses,
Myren
Not only do they make royalty for your car's head unit w/ iPod integration, they insure that one in every three will most certainly get an iPod if they dont already have one.
Its just an enormous network externality.
But really, if we're talking about network externalities... why not just add the network? There seems to have been a certain je ne sais pas ce qui when we introduced intercommunication to the pc. Would I be a total heretic to suggest we try exposing network interfaces to our mp3 players?
Ian Murdock (debian creator) was lamenting the lack of good remoting interfaces. Well, he was wrong. The problem is just that no one's implemented it.
I actually blame Intel and the Set-Top-Box people for not pushing Universal Plug and Play. It should've been pushed into more embedded devices, just the control specs for it, skip the whole streaming media over IP till basic networked devices get off the ground. Instead we're back where we were 20 years ago, fucking Apple(iPod)Talk 2.0, only this ones' even stupider than the last. That and serial interfaces, la-di-friggin-da. How many USBSerial adapters do I need to run my home theater? Gimme a break.
Myren
Myren
I got an ipod nano before Xmas and was frightened by all the reports of scratched screens. A friend told me about InvisibleShield (www.invisibleshield.com) so I ordered one. They're a bit expensive at $19.95 but it's a one-time application. My friend even had to send his ipod video into Apple under warranty and he got a replacement and IS sent him a free replacement shield (not like plastic and postage costs that much) even though it was not their fault. It changes the feel of the ipod, it's not smooth slick like it was, but I'm quite happy that I'm not getting any more scratches.
With the flip side being, of course, that there seems to be a distinct lack of Bose SoundDocks and other cool accessories for Neuros...
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
Wouldn't that be iPod accesory third?
My other sig is extremely clever...
iPod People
The iPod reached the critical 'popular culture threshold' where rather than just have people create generic accessories for the portable music player market, they instead make them for the specific product because they can share in the success of it.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
But the Bose accessories are more of an expensive status symbol than a practical way to play your iPod tunes. Why not hook it up to your stereo with a headphone to rca adapter? Actually, the iPod alone is a status symbol too...'look at me!! i'm cool cuz i have a stylish mp3 player!!'
Yeesh, someone's never heard of the free market, eh? Don't get me wrong -- I own no $29 iPod socks. But I have no malice toward apple for making such a thing available for exchange.
"Damn the waffle-cone vendor for his $4 outrageously priced airy delights, whose value is scarcely greater than the cost of the goods: 25 cents. Damn him for selling them to all those volunteering customers! If only they knew the TRUE (my) value of waffle-cones."
Free trade -- founded on the twin principles that everyone ascribes different valuations to different goods, and that people can be left to their own devices to acquire the goods that they themselves value the most.
Brought to you by Capitalists. You know, those people who make it possible to spend 8 or so hours a day doing the kind of work you choose to do in order to procure the goods you like -- like iPod socks, bread without crust, jelly and peanut butter swirled together in a jar, and Microsoft Windows. Hey, I'm not judging you -- it's your money.
Um, that was really the point I was trying to make. If you need to buy proprietary custom crafted gizmo's, you've lost. If you want a bose sound dock, get a $50 VFD display unit, $50 a USB griffin air remote, a pair of USB speakers ($100) and a USB hub ($10).