“Dell vs the Chinese”, and Neil Mc on the iPod
Two things caught my eye: Om Malik on rumours IBM will quit the PC business: Dell, the supply chain managers have kicked their asses out of business. Only a matter of time before HP quits, and Gateway vanishes. Dell versus the Chinese.
Given that BusinessWeek just did a scary edition on “the Chinese price”, which is 30% lower than the US-made price, that’s a scary idea. For Dell.
Meanwhile Neil Mc examines the iPod phenomenon: a flash-based iPod, he argues, would give Apple complete and utter dominance across the entire music player sector (as opposed to complete and utter dominance at the hard drive-based end). And, super super super importantly, it’ll increase the lock-in factor. This last point is key. Very insightful. Nobody else has the same degree of lock-in in this market. And remember, in technologies an effective strategy is to make it slightly too expensive to change, even if the alternative is a bit cheaper or better.
I’m sure you can think of a case where that already applies.
- These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
- Michael Dell re Blu-Ray, and disable those iPod nano scratches! (4 October 2005; score: 59.07%)
- Dell explains why it killed customer forums (sort of); and that Shuttle delay in full (14 July 2005; score: 58.54%)
- Dell shuts customer support forums.. because they're full of criticism (13 July 2005; score: 53.46%)
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December 6th, 2004 at 6:42 am
Here’s the counter-argument to the Apple introduces flash-player argument: http://daringfireball.net/2004/12/flash_gordon .
Basically, the mini’s already it, if they make it cheaper.
December 6th, 2004 at 1:34 pm
Yes. I like Gruber’s comment: Demand for lower-cost iPods exists. But, duh, demand for lower-cost everything exists.
Also: The point of this is to emphasize that “flash-memory-based”, in and of itself, is not a feature. The latter being something that we techno-savvy people tend to forget. Size, quality, price: that’s the holy trio shoppers want. iPod Baby? iPod Sport? Still seems a possibility, even after that piece.
December 6th, 2004 at 3:19 pm
I’m not sure of this lock-in business. Last time I looked (October) iTunes had sold - what, 150 million tracks? By then, Apple had sold north of 4 million iPods, which means roughly thirty tunes per Pod (thirty more than are on mine). That’s not much of a lock-in.
I’d be interested how many iPods are entirely or mostly fed on AAC rather than MPEG (yes, I know AAC is an MPEG standard, but YKWIM). I use iTunes and an iPod and I’ve spent ages putting my CDs onto my hard disk - but I could move over to a different player as quickly as I can point its music management software at the right directory. Or just copy the music across in Windows.
R
December 6th, 2004 at 3:34 pm
I think lock-in is relative in this case. For most of those six million iPodders, they’ll use iTunes, which refuses to believe there’s any other player. True, Rupert, that you could move your music easily. But don’t forget that there’s a whole industry for people who are bemused by the idea or time required to digitise their music once they’ve been given an iPod as a present.
It only has to be a bit more expensive, or technically difficult. Then the lock-in process begins, almost with the help of the consumer, who doesn’t take the trouble to find out how to change. In the case of operating systems, it’s the sort of thing people only do if (1) it’s forced on them by “above” or (2) they are very determined.
There’s less lock-in for music players, but it’s still not trivial.
February 11th, 2005 at 4:08 am
I bought a Dell A940 printer which worked for for about l0 months. Then it stopped working.
I called Dell and they send me several “refurbished” A940′d. Each would come up with “Hardware
Error 0502.” By using Dell’s system, we determined that it was the small stri[ that is in the
printer and that it was not vertical, but then the Printer still did not work. I have spoken
with Dell on numerous occasions, as this has been going on for a month. I have sent three of of
these defective printers back to them, and have one which I cannot send without great expense
since I have no packagaging. Yesterday they told me that they had placed an order for a new
Dell A922, a smaller proudct, but it is a printer. Today they write and tell me that it will not be shipped until the l7th of this month. This has been their pattern for six weeks now. Do I have
any recourse at all except to buy another printer. and forget about this one? I love my PC but
goodness, they hard to deal with, especially since they outsource their Tech Support, and many
are difficult to understand. The worse is they make promises they do not keep. Anyone with
any suggestions wou;d be welcome!!! Just email me. Please!
May 11th, 2006 at 3:37 am
Just had the same problem with my Dell A940 printer. Black cartridge ran out of ink and I replaced it with a Dell supplied cartridge. Error message came up right away. Had several conversations on line with tech support which is outsourced to India I think. Gave me a link to fix the strip in the printer but when I followed the instructions the strip came out of the printer. Was then told that the printer cannot be repaired. Sooo, we get a HP, Compaq, Brother or Epson printer. At least I’ll be able to go to Office Max or Staples to get new ink cartridges.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Our Dell AIO A940 stopped printing black ink. It went through the process, but the paper came out blank. I finally got it to print (a year later) by selecting:
PRINT, PROPERTIES, PAPER SETUP, SPECIALTY PAPER, PHOTO/GLOSSY
Good luck!