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Originally Posted by transmitable25
microsoft trying to make a good mp3 is probably one of the best things that could happen. its because of this that the new iPod's are selling for way less than they were. I bought the 20GB iPod photo when it came out for $300 and now you can get an 80GB iPod video for $350. Without Microsoft and other company's battling for the best mp3 the iPod would be expensive as hell just like when it first came out.
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i dont think this is exactly true. while generally its true that in a competitive market, producers will lower prices in order to stay competitive, i dont think m$ has anything to do with ipods selling for less. ipods are selling less because they are selling (comparatively) a bit less succesfully than before. i think apple <only> sold something like 8.1 million units in the last (quarter?) vs. traditionally about 8.5 million units in the same time period. the ipod is by far the most dominant player in the mp3 market, with well over 60-70% of the market share. in particular, creative has been selling players with similar capabilities, the ability to play more file formats/similar features at lower prices for a long time now. what keeps ipod owners buying is the patented easy to user interface, great software (not that itunes isn't without its problems, but its a lot better than anything creative has), and the best 'pay for' music service out there that has become the industry standard. it's the reason why i bought mine, and let's face it: ipods are just cool and have a well packaged exterior/advertising. the packaging and material use doesn't feel cheap (like a lot of other players), and this has a lot to do with its success. personally m$ tries to make every one of its products 'do as much as possible', and i think its the shortcoming for the zune.
apple has a niche market in the pc industry as well. in all respects, there is no reason to buy an apple PC, since they are basically PC's with a glorified exterior and a different OS (which you can boot on a regular PC). people buy them for no other reason than they look nice, and are well designed/packaged. ever been to an apple store? it looks like a ****ing high class designer store comparatively. apple is catering to a market that values hipness and fashion over simple use (like alienware, falcon northwest, etc...). they're not subject to the same rules as say: dell or HP who are mass producing PC's and sell as many units as possible. in any case the ipod is generates most of apple's revenue, much more than PC and software sales do.