But certainly mostly style and marketing. I own two Archos units, obviously far superior to any ipod. I bought my first unit back when they first came out - I had my AV320 pre-ordered. Funny thing is that of all my friends that saw it, they all marveled at it. However, only one friend bought one (he actually bought two, and his wife still bought an ipod), and the rest all bought Ipods. When asked why, I could never get anything more out of them besides "I just like my ipod". No one even tried to make the point that their ipod was better than my archos. I guess it is the same as my thread where I make the point that most people would prefer a rolex to casio, even though the casio is superior in every functional aspect. When I look at my Archos Gmini, I really do see a beautiful unit, but I suspect that most people see it as some geek unit, while the Ipod is viewed by most as being very cool. Also, I moved to the Philippines about 6 months ago. I remember walking through the local electonics mall when I first got here and saw several vendors selling Archos, and only one selling ipods. At the time I thought it was just that the Filipinos, with limited incomes, were more concerned with bang-for-the-buck then style. Very heartening for me at the time. Fast forwared to today. You can walk through the mall and find the same two vendors selling archos, and maybe twenty vendors selling ipods. Hmmmmm. Never seen an ipod ad, or any apple ad, anywhere in the 6 months I have been here. So it is not brand recognition or timing or marketing. People just see something "beautiful" or "cool" in the ipod. Or maybe they don't have the intellect to understand an archos, but an ipod is a very simple thing. And of course, no device can really be powerful and simple at the same time. So there will always be a market for powerull units, and another for simple units, and the simple units will always do better than the powerful units because that is apparently what the majority of people want. Steve jobs maybe an asshole, but he really does get it.
Why do so many people prefer to buy a $5,000 rolex than a $20 Casio, when the casio can do far more, is much more accurate, and doesn't stop working when you put it down for more than a day? If you take a look at the wrist of the typical pocket PC user, you are far more likely to find a functional, inexpensive watch than a status symbol. If you take a look at a guy carrying an ipod, i can GURANTEE he will not be wearing a Casio. I cannot understand the mindset of someone who buys a Rolex, just like I do not understand the mindset of someone who buys an Ipod. A couple of years back I bought a $5,000 watch, because I had the money and was sick of hearing from my friend "you have to own one to understand". Well, 6 months later, it was on Ebay. I was even more confused than ever why someone with money would want to own a watch that has to be reset whenever you put it down for more than a day. (and please, don't try to explain it to me, I've heard it all before and it still makes no sense to me.) I wear a $200 citizen on my wrist that tells the time in unlimited time zones that I can program in, has a stopwatch, day, date, two alarms, coundown timer, and both an analog and digital display. I use many of the functions regularly. To me, only someone with an inferior mind would ever own a rolex or an ipod. To them, I am probably seen as a nerd. Just like you could never convince the in-crowd in high school to spend their time at a computer club meeting instead of the mall, you could never convince them today to own a pocket PC.
The point I am making is that this discussion should not be about failings of the pocket PC, but rather some core psycological differences that different people have. My honest take is that Ipod and rolex owners have weaker minds, so they buy things they can easily undersand (ipod), and own expensive watches to compensate for their mental failings.
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But certainly mostly style and marketing. I own two Archos units, obviously far superior to any ipod. I bought my first unit back when they first came out - I had my AV320 pre-ordered. Funny thing is that of all my friends that saw it, they all marveled at it. However, only one friend bought one (he actually bought two, and his wife still bought an ipod), and the rest all bought Ipods. When asked why, I could never get anything more out of them besides "I just like my ipod". No one even tried to make the point that their ipod was better than my archos. I guess it is the same as my thread where I make the point that most people would prefer a rolex to casio, even though the casio is superior in every functional aspect. When I look at my Archos Gmini, I really do see a beautiful unit, but I suspect that most people see it as some geek unit, while the Ipod is viewed by most as being very cool. Also, I moved to the Philippines about 6 months ago. I remember walking through the local electonics mall when I first got here and saw several vendors selling Archos, and only one selling ipods. At the time I thought it was just that the Filipinos, with limited incomes, were more concerned with bang-for-the-buck then style. Very heartening for me at the time. Fast forwared to today. You can walk through the mall and find the same two vendors selling archos, and maybe twenty vendors selling ipods. Hmmmmm. Never seen an ipod ad, or any apple ad, anywhere in the 6 months I have been here. So it is not brand recognition or timing or marketing. People just see something "beautiful" or "cool" in the ipod. Or maybe they don't have the intellect to understand an archos, but an ipod is a very simple thing. And of course, no device can really be powerful and simple at the same time. So there will always be a market for powerull units, and another for simple units, and the simple units will always do better than the powerful units because that is apparently what the majority of people want. Steve jobs maybe an asshole, but he really does get it.
Why do so many people prefer to buy a $5,000 rolex than a $20 Casio, when the casio can do far more, is much more accurate, and doesn't stop working when you put it down for more than a day? If you take a look at the wrist of the typical pocket PC user, you are far more likely to find a functional, inexpensive watch than a status symbol. If you take a look at a guy carrying an ipod, i can GURANTEE he will not be wearing a Casio. I cannot understand the mindset of someone who buys a Rolex, just like I do not understand the mindset of someone who buys an Ipod. A couple of years back I bought a $5,000 watch, because I had the money and was sick of hearing from my friend "you have to own one to understand". Well, 6 months later, it was on Ebay. I was even more confused than ever why someone with money would want to own a watch that has to be reset whenever you put it down for more than a day. (and please, don't try to explain it to me, I've heard it all before and it still makes no sense to me.) I wear a $200 citizen on my wrist that tells the time in unlimited time zones that I can program in, has a stopwatch, day, date, two alarms, coundown timer, and both an analog and digital display. I use many of the functions regularly. To me, only someone with an inferior mind would ever own a rolex or an ipod. To them, I am probably seen as a nerd. Just like you could never convince the in-crowd in high school to spend their time at a computer club meeting instead of the mall, you could never convince them today to own a pocket PC. The point I am making is that this discussion should not be about failings of the pocket PC, but rather some core psycological differences that different people have. My honest take is that Ipod and rolex owners have weaker minds, so they buy things they can easily undersand (ipod), and own expensive watches to compensate for their mental failings.