About 2 years ago, I was on assignment for about 6 months in Europe. I was in London mostly, and there every other week, in addition to staying there for 5 weeks straight. It was a great experience as you never really know what’s like in a foreign country, unless you live there day to day for a while, go grocery shopping, walk the streets, and really be like someone who lives there.
So 2 years ago was early 2004. It was around the time the iPod was really taking off, and I was amazed at all the trademark white headphones I saw on the streets as people walked to work. I remember thinking about what a great branding design it was, to see all these white headphones everywhere. You knew immediately that this person had an iPod. No other MP3 players had such a distinctive headphone color. I also remember thinking about how dominant the iPod was in the market of digital music players and here was visible proof that the iPod was very popular amongst the masses.
Fast forward to summer 2006. I am walking the streets again of London. This time I am amazed at the lack of visible white headphones among the people. Truly the density of white headphones has dropped considerably. What happened?
Market reports show iPod sales are still strong, but then I remember reading an article that talked about the sheer number of competitive products out there, which was numbering in the 100s. It seems as though this had made a dent in MP3 players as other products came into grab some market share and Londoners had purchased other brands of players, as the number of headphones I saw was still high, but just not the usual signature white iPod headphones I saw 2 years ago.
It’s hard to retain market share when new products have entered the space. Apple has competed on design successfully with the iPod and its associated coolness with owning one, but when there are equally cool but different looking products out there, it’s tough to keep it up. As a designer, I shudder to think about the time when design itself can become commoditized in a particular category. When this happens, you need to start designing more personal products, those that target the individual and what makes him/her cool and not just an overall coolness about being associated with brand like Apple.
It will be interesting to see if the coolness of owning an iPod will continue into the future, and if Apple can keep producing the magic which makes consumers desire their products.