Death to the IPod, thank you very much...That's one device I really hate,
and the thing about using chinese workers in those conditions...well...May
explain, for instance, why IPod Nanos break in half.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kelly Pierce" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <pc-audio@pc-audio.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 10, 2006 1:09 PM
Subject: Why the iPod is losing its cool
The iPod lost its cool for me when I read the Sunday Mirror expose a few
weeks ago. The story told of a place it called Ipod city where 200,000
people work and live with factories, dormitories, restaurants, grocers, and
health clinics. It even has its own transit system. The article said
workers for Apple assemble iPods by hand standing up at tables for 14 hours
a day. They are paid much less then other factory workers in China. If
they try to stretch their arms or legs after many hours of standing nearly
still, Apple's minders force them to do push ups and humiliate them in front
of other workers. The offending worker is then slapped with mandatory
overtime, toiling until they virtually collapse from exhaustion and stress.
How "cool" is that?
Kelly
The Observer [UK]
Sunday September 10, 2006
Why the iPod is losing its cool
Apple has added ever more extras to its digital music-player in a bid
to stem falling sales. But fears are rising that the device is now too
common to be cutting edge
David Smith, technology correspondent
The Mermaid, Puddle Dock, is not the first place you might go in
search of the cool and cutting edge. That will not stop an expectant crowd
gathering at the conference centre in London's Blackfriars this week for a
live satellite broadcast from San Francisco that could make or break one
of the consumer icons of the Western world.
The iPod, the digital music player beloved of everyone from Coldplay's
Chris Martin to President George Bush, is in danger of losing its sheen.
Sales are declining at an unprecedented rate. Industry experts talk of a
'backlash' and of the iPod 'wilting away before our eyes'. Most
disastrously, Apple's signature pocket device with white earphones may
simply have become too common to be cool.
On Tuesday the eyes of iPod-lovers the world over will be on Steve
Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple, when he seeks to allay
fears that it could follow Sony's tape-playing Walkman into the recycling
bin of history.
Jobs is widely expected to announce the most ambitious iPod service
yet - the sale of feature-length films via the internet for viewing on the
devices, which may receive an expanded 'widescreen' and improved storage
capacity. If downloading movies from a computer to an iPod proves even
half as revolutionary as it did for music, the multibillion-pound DVD
industry could be quaking. There are rumours that Jobs will also announce
a long expected 'iPhone', combining the music function and sleek style of
an iPod with a mobile phone.
Industry-watchers warn that the iPod could soon be regarded by teenage
cynics as their 'parents' player' because a mass-market product rarely
equates with edgy fashionability. Although it has sold nearly 60 million
actual iPods and a billion downloaded songs worldwide, cracks have begun
to appear in the edifice. The Zandl Group, a New York-based trends
forecaster which regularly interviews a panel of 3,000 consumers aged
25-35, recently picked up its first significant criticisms. 'The iPod is
far and away the most popular tech gadget with our panellists - however,
for the first time we are hearing negative feedback about the iPod from
some panellists,' said the organisation's spokeswoman, Carla Avruch.
'Panellists cite that the batteries are not replaceable, so when they die
the entire player must be replaced,' she said. 'We have heard from some
conspiracy theorists that the batteries are made to die soon after the
warranty ends.
'Other complaints are that iTunes [Apple's online music store] is
overpriced and the format is not easily transferred on to other players.
In our ethnography interviews, some long-time iPod-users told us that they
have stopped updating their iPods because it's too much work, while other
consumers who had bought iPods more recently had not even taken theirs out
of the package to set it up.'
She added that the iPod is in danger of becoming a victim of its own
success: 'Some backlash is against the ubiquity of the iPod - everyone has
those white headphones on the train.'
Analysts warn that the iPod has passed its peak. From its launch five
years ago its sales graph showed a consistent upward curve, culminating in
a period around last Christmas that saw a record 14 million sold. But
sales fell to 8.5 million in the following quarter, and down to 8.1
million in the most recent three-month period. Wall Street is reportedly
starting to worry that the bubble will burst.
Tomi Ahonen, a technology brand expert and author, said: 'For the
first time the iPod has had two consecutive falls after 17 quarters of
growth. If I were the manager, I would be wanting my people to explain
what is going on. The iPod is wilting away before our eyes.'
He cited new mobile phones with improved MP3 players as the cause of
the iPod's dwindling appeal. 'In 2005 all the big phone manufacturers
released phones that play music. Phones are outselling dedicated MP3
players by six to one. Apple had the market for MP3, but they lost it.'
Ahonen, author of Communities Dominate Brands, predicted that in the
long term the iPod will have only a narrow audience. 'It will continue to
dominate a niche at the top end: if you're a musician or a DJ you'll use
it because it's the best, like a photographer with his Nikon camera. But
the average mobile phone user gets a new handset every 18 months, and a
quarter of mobile phones sold this year will have an MP3 player. In the
same way as camera phones have pushed cameras to one side, this is an
automatic replacement.'
Apple is famously tight-lipped about plans, but its invitations to
Tuesday's event show an Apple logo in front of crossed searchlights and
the slogan 'It's Showtime'. Sources in Hollywood, where Jobs sits on the
board of Walt Disney, suggest Apple has been trying to secure deals to
sell films through iTunes for around £8 each. Apple added video downloads
of television shows such as Lost and sporting events to its iTunes service
last October.
The company is facing growing competition on every front. Last week
Amazon launched a digital TV and film download service in the US, and the
supermarket giant Wal-Mart is in talks with Hollywood studios about a
similar website. Later this year a new online music store, SpiralFrog,
will undercut iTunes by offering a huge catalogue of music for free while
relying on advertising for its income. MySpace, the immensely popular
social networking site, also poses a threat.
Three out of every four MP3 players sold are iPods, but the device
could be challenged later this year by Zune, the contender from Microsoft,
whose billionaire founder Bill Gates is not used to losing. Samsung is
also betting heavily on its new K5, which has the option of built-in
loudspeakers.
But commentators argue that the iPod's status as a 21st-century
fashion symbol is assured. Leander Kahney, author of The Cult of Mac,
said: 'I thought they would become passé last year but they haven't, and I
don't see much sign that they will."
James Beechinor-Collins, editor-in-chief of T3 consumer gadgets
magazine, added: 'It's cool across the board: everyone from my
seven-year-old niece to my 60-year-old uncle has one. But as the leader
Apple needs to keep innovating, not resting on its laurels. We haven't
seen a new product for a year, so Tuesday's announcement had better be
bloody good.'
Iconic electronics that reached their sell-by date
Sony Walkman
Launched: 1979
What is it? Portable music cassette player with headphones. Sales fell
in the Nineties when portable CD and minidisc players arrived; iPod nailed
the coffin shut in 2001. Sony launched an MP3 version last year.
Sales: 60 million sold by 1992, 4 million in the UK.
Sinclair Spectrum
Launched: 1982
What is it? Early personal computer with up to 48K memory and built-in
tape recorder/disk drive; games included Jet Set Willy and Chuckie Egg.
Fell to competition from other models, particularly the Commodore 64;
obsolete by the Nineties.
Sales: ZX model sold 2 million worldwide. By 1985 Sinclair was
producing 200,000 units a month, with 57 per cent market share.
Psion personal organiser
Launched: 1984
What is it? Looked like a calculator with an alphabetic keyboard and
was essentially an electronic diary for yuppies. Competition from Japanese
companies and advanced laptop and mobile phone technology, plus the
executives' must-have Blackberry, made it redundant, but Psion is still
producing 'mobile computers'.
Sales: Sold 1 million in first decade, but sales tailed off as it was
superseded.
VHS cassettes
Launched: 1976
What is it? JVC's Video Home System, for viewing and recording films
and television. Eclipsed Sony's short-lived Betamax video format in the
Eighties but, since DVDs were launched in the late Nineties, sales have
collapsed.
_______________________________________________
PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more...
http://www.pc-audio.org
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
This list is a service of MosenExplosion.com. To see what other lists we
offer, visit us on the web at http://www.MosenExplosion.com
_______________________________________________
PC-Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more...
http://www.pc-audio.org
To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
This list is a service of MosenExplosion.com. To see what other lists we offer,
visit us on the web at http://www.MosenExplosion.com
