Just got around to reading Dell’s Dud, John Gruber’s a very interesting analysis on how the Dell DJ and the Apple iPod.
But the iPod is not merely an engineering and usability success. It’s also a marketing success. Everyone knows what an iPod is, and what it does. And everyone knows that they’re cool.
Andy Warhol said:
What’s great about this country is that America started the tradition
where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the
poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know
that the president drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke and, just think,
you can drink Coke too. A Coke is a Coke, and no amount of money can
get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking.
All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows
it, the president knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.The iPod is the Coca-Cola of music players. It’s not an expensive
computer peripheral – it’s a low-cost luxury item. For $500, anyone can
buy the best MP3 player in the world, the same one used by the world.s
most famous, most talented music stars . like Moby, Beck, and Shaq.