Apple to Face iPod Clone Attack

chr1sb writes "The Age has a commentary piece outlining how Apple's domination of the online media market is continuing to grow, but speculating that significant competition from the likes of Nokia and Motorola will rapidly relegate Apple's presence in the market to a corner, just as clone manufacturing of IBM PCs dominated the initial success of the Macintosh. From the article: 'The iPod/iTunes system will move into a niche with Macintosh computers because Steve Jobs has again stuck with closed architecture and total control. This will happen quickly because mobile phones are being turned over about every year.'."

Comments

So are iPods.

[Saven Marek]

This will happen quickly because mobile phones are being turned over about every year.

Given the buying habits of people I know with the devices, so are iPods.

Re:So are iPods.

[L0k11]

we've heard this all before with the ngage and portable gaming devices

"mobile phones are going to kill off the gameboy" - it never happened.

at the end of the day people buy something for one task because it makes the interface simpler. sure my mobile can play mp3s but i'd much rather have something which is designed to play music as its sole function. just look at another example: camera phones. my phone can take pictures but the interface is clunky and the quality sucks. i dont know anyone who wouldn't prefer using a simple digital camera.

its a jack of all trades but master of none situation.

Re:So are iPods.

[peragrin]

Two minor nitpick points

1) Cell phone companies are 10 times worse than Apple or MSFT when it comes to vendor lock-in. if you buy a cingluar phone it will only play music from cingular. They are already doing such things with their vcast, and TV on the road setups.

2)Cell Phones have horrible battery life as it is. you start watching tv or listening to music during lunch you may not be able to make that important business call at 3pm.

From TFA

[ereshiere]

iPods themselves will have to become phones.

Yes, and an Xbox will have to become a Playstation, lions will lay down with lambs, and Apple will be forced to give up on OSX and move to Windows.

I have a phone already. I have an iPod.

"Killer app"

[dotwaffle]

When will people get over the Killer App mentaility? The iPod wouldn't sell nearly as well without network effects. I'll explain:

iPod connects to iTunes, which does an excellent job of managing your music.
iTunes connects to the iTunes Music Store, which is a cheap(ish) and easy way to get tracks, as well as easily manage podcasts and subscriptions - if TV shows were available in the UK, I'd be using iTunes to get them, almost definitely.
iTMS connects with pretty much ALL the major music companies, so that when you buy tracks from X, it suggests Y and Z, which you may be interested in.

The combination of all of the above leads to Apple not only having market share, but DESERVING market share - their products are good, and if anyone comes up to me wanting to get into online music, I suggest iPod everytime.

However, as others have said, Ogg Vorbis support should be in iTunes, and either converted within iTunes or playable on the iPod. I can't see it happening anytime soon though :(

Apple doesn't need Ogg Vorbis.

[jcr]

The long and short of it is, unless you can point to a million customers who would buy an iPod if it supported vorbis, and wouldn't otherwise, it's simply a non-issue to Apple. You are a vanishingly small proportion of their potential market.

-jcr

Why why why...

[Anonymous Coward]

...do people keep writing stories about iPods as if you could only put music from the iTMS on them?

It says:

"The only place you can easily buy material for your iPod, as opposed to stealing it, is the iTunes online store."

and refers to it as a "closed system".

Total nonsense. You can "easily by material for your iPod" on CD. Or, you know, from that dodgy Russian MP3 store.

But it's by no means a "closed system". I have 2,000 songs on my iPod and a total of 12 are from the iTMS.

Sigh

[SmallFurryCreature]

When your phone can hold 10-20 gigs your ipod can hold a terrabyte.

Who needs that much space. Yeah right. I have heard that one ever since I bought a HD floppy.

There have always been devices that do it all and there have always been devices that do one thing only.

There are washing machines that can also function as a dryer. Funny thing, do you know you can still buy JUST washing machines + a seperate spin dryer + a seperate warm air dryer?

Yes thats right, spin dryers still exist despite the fact that nearly every washing machine can do it that function nowadays. Just not as well as a true purpose spin dryer.

Oh and the whole camera phone argument is faulty. NOBODY uses a camera phone as a replacement for a regular phone. The camera phone is the replacement of the throwaway/rented camera. Its function is to be always with you for those moments when you do not have a regular camera with you.

In fact that is the function of all the extra's on the mobile phone. Games? Fun for when you got your phone but not a real game system. Calendar? Usefull for when you do not got access to your real calendar. Music? Nice for when you forgot your real music player.

Offcourse some people will be happy with the limited capabilities that their phone offers them. Just as some people are happy with a 10 dollar MP3 player they got from the bargain bin.

That is not Apples market. Apples market is what used to be the Walkman->Minidisc/CD-man market. They effectivly replaced sony for portable audio.

Oh and if you think your phone MP3 players is not going to have DRM your insane.