What people said about the iPod 9 years ago when it launched...
The iPod made its debut in Oct 2001. It looked like this:
iPoop... iCry. I was so hoping for something more.
Great just what the world needs, another freaking MP3 player. Go Steve! Where's the Newton?!
I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!
All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.
1. Not revolutionary. Big capacity mp3 players already exist. With Creative Labs' entrance into the firewire arena, future nomads will have similar specs and better prices.Proof you can't listen to the commentators and the haters. You must continue to work on your product with extreme focus. It's easy to armchair criticize things, but hard to deliver. So... deliver.
2. A bad fit. This product is outside Apple's core competancy - computing devices. When many are calling for a pda, they release an MP3 player.
3. Without a future. This Christmas you will see mp3 players be commoditized. Meaning that the players from Korea will be way less expensive tha iPod. The real money is in DRM and distribution (ala Real Musicnet). If Apple were smart they would be focusing on high gross revenue from services rather than a playback device.
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26 comments
What was it again.. oh yeah: Don't Believe The Hype. it still counts.
It was iTunes that propelled the iPod into a defacto standard for MP3 players, Apple used iTunes to shift the device. The revolution was in buying music. The device itself (esp the mark one) deserved some of the comments above.
9 years ago it was 2001. Now it's 2010, we have learned a lot, we have better technology... and Apple ships a larger, flatter, iPod with a slightly different name.
This is why design by consensus rarely generates amazing results.
BECAUSE ITS AWESOME! ;-)
Dumb? Multitasking does take a big toll on your brain and memory. Take a look at the links below:
http://blog.richmond.edu/studentvoice/2008/02/22/productivity-suffers-when-students-engage-in-multitasking/
and http://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/20070201/multitasking-hurts-learning
Here is another article about Eric Schmidt worrying about the constant bombardment of bits of information and how it'll change kid's cognition. http://www.physorg.com/news183997070.html
I seriously think that multitasking can be in the way of concentration and therefore of getting things done. I am looking forward to trying out a device that might be able help me focus in a world in which every social connection or business entity is constantly pinging you to vie for your attention.
The fact that it sold well, isn't a sign of quality, or of "what the critics said were wrong". Especially Apple-Fans should know that, if this would be true, than Windows would be in fact be much much better than Mac OS X and so on. So quantity of sales are only important for the money-makers.
Why using computers with <6>
I know, I bought an Archos 20GB HDD-Player which was half of the proce, double the capacity, much better soundquality and USB-mass storage support. To that day, the iPod is a piece of crappy, closed system, which force you to use iTunes. Horrible.
But well, the PR is good at Apple, and with a church-like community there is some advantages. But this PR can't make a product really better. Crap is crap, but it's transformed into gold... only on your mind.
You just go on crediting the iP* success to TBWA. I'm sure if Archos invested in their services, and maybe used white headphones, we'd all be more excited about the "ARCHOS 5 Internet Tablet" and letting this silly overgrown iPod languish in the obscurity it deserves.
That might be nice, actually. Then those of us who design software wouldn't have to work so hard to impress users who have overinflated expectations of straightforward controls and intuitive models.
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