jonboy

Apple's Leap from Mediocre to Marvelous

The author apparently has been living in a cave or walking aimlessly in the desert. MP3 players that predated the introduction of the iPod were awful devices that were hard to use. They were temperamental devices with poorly designed interfaces. The market was fragmented with Microsoft mediaplayer or winamp or any of a number of different players to try to interface to the multiple brands of MP3 players. It is easy to suggest that it was just marketing hype that allowed Apple to take the MP3 player market by storm until you actually own an iPod. My first iPod was a gift from my family. I didn’t think I even needed one but it was a birthday present. I fell in love in the first week. It is well designed work of art that is pleasant to operate, integrated into a music store, integrated into a total experience. The total experience is value that Apple adds to their products. By Christmas of that year we had bought three more iPods, one for each family member. Yesterday my daughter got an iTouch – part of buying a laptop under Apples recent education discount program. I could not wait to play with it and check it out. It is so easy to use, another work of art. Now I want to upgrade to my iPod. That is the power that Apple has right now; they are wizards at marketing but they are also wizards at engineering. I will scrimp in other areas of my life (food, gas, entertainment) just to have that experience and own their products. Apple has figured out the ultimate success formula, exceed customers expectations, day in, day out. It’s a hard act to beat!