Apple iPod Mini Reflects Personality
Sun May 16, 8:42 AM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Some pooh-poohed the assorted colors of Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod mini as frivolous, but the digital music players are a smash hit and have become fashion accessories in and of themselves.
Beyond being just a nifty way to listen to music while riding on a bus or working out at the gym, the iPod mini's eye-pleasing design in five metallic colors has made it a reflection of the user's personality, analysts said.
"They are a point of differentiation for the individual and they're almost a status symbol, said Tim Bajarin, an analyst at Creative Strategies. "Because of the colors and its small size, it really is an expression of personality."
Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media, says: "Even though those white ear buds aren't really that great, people want to wear them with an iPod so others know that they're carrying an iPod"
And while the larger, white iPods that are about the size of a deck of playing cards have been a huge success, it's the smaller business-card-sized iPod mini that has resonated with the digerati and could spawn design innovation in other compact digital music players, analysts said.
"We can only hope," Bajarin said. "I would hope that Apple's innovation in industrial design spills out to the rest of the industry."
Of course, any cultural revolution has its downside, with scattered reports of the mini's headphone jack producing ear-splitting static and some skepticism about its steep price. Some complain it is too complicated to set up.
The January announcement of the iPod mini, which weighs 3.6 ounces and holds about 1,000 songs was Cupertino, California-based Apple's (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) answer to cheaper, flash-memory based players. Since going on sale in February, the mini has been much in demand -- and in short supply.
As with all popular items, rivals abound. Players from Creative, Dell Inc., iRiver and others are just as portable as the Mini, analysts say. Moreover, Dell's player, while not quite as small, costs roughly $50 less and holds 15 gigabytes worth of songs, nearly four times as many as iPod mini.
Also, plenty of consumers haven't yet been "inducted into the iPod culture," Leigh said, adding that many people still listen to music with portable CD players and don't see the need to spend $250 on a portable music player such as iPod.
"Apple believes that their products need to stand out in order to be successful and, as a result, put a significant amount of time and investment in creating products that are unique and innovative," Bajarin said.
He said other compact digital music players are considerably cheaper, hold fewer songs and are perfectly serviceable, but none has yet matched what he called Apple's elegant user interface.
"They're just not the sleekest, Bajarin said. "You look at the products coming from Creative or Gateway and they're clever in the way they're put together, but in the end, the ease of use with the buttons and everything else aren't in the same class as Apple
Apple's Web site showed this week that a silver iPod would take six weeks to be shipped, from the time the order was placed. And on eBay Inc., iPod minis -- sealed and in the box -- were listed for auction with multiple bids topping $300.
Leigh pointed to three factors for the iPod mini's success, which has seemed to generate even more buzz than the older, larger iPod. Some have gone so far as to argue that the original iPod was just a prototype for the iPod mini.
First, the 1,000-song capacity is at the sweet spot of the market -- not too many songs, but not too few, either. Second, the colors --silver, gold, green, pink or blue -- which Apple has said have been especially popular with women. And, third, the ease of use in using the mini while exercising.
"It's great for the StairMaster, or a trail you can ride your bike on," Leigh said, noting that the smaller, compact and typical Flash-memory-based rivals need some help.
"A lot of work is going to have to be done on these very compact players in terms of their user interface," Leigh said, who owns an original iPod as well as an iPod mini.
In the end, even analysts who make their living covering technology trends seem to have a need for individual iPod expression.
Bajarin noted that one analyst in his office expressed a preference for pink. Another voted for blue.
As for himself, Bajarin said: "I'm pretty conservative in the way I carry stuff around -- my briefcase is black -- so I have silver."
