How do you stop Nicole Kidman being famous? If Sony et al can answer that, they can beat the iPod
My column today for The Independent poses the question: why has the iPod got such a grip on the market, and what can rivals do? The answer (to the first bit): celebrity.
Consider Nicole Kidman and the iPod nano: one’s thin and famous, and the other.. no, hang on.
How would you stop Nicole Kidman from being famous? This may not seem like the sort of problem that you’re often faced with. But that, or a form of it, is the task facing the companies that want to take the iPod’s crown in the digital music player market.
Celebrity is a natural result of any market for attention. We can only pay attention to a limited number of people; so we focus on those who we find attractive, and who have interesting stuff happening to them. The problem for them then is to stay famous, which the top celebs achieve by arranging for photographers to capture “unguarded” moments.
There were already MP3 players such as the iPod some time ago:
they proliferated in the succeeding years, but made few inroads into the market. Then, in October 2001, Apple launched the iPod, to yawns from most analysts who thought it was a bit pricey. But a strange thing happened. The iPod got celebrity. Musicians, who already used Apples to mix their music, were early adopters. They had them, and a buzz started.
And lo, a celebrity was born - a technological one.
So what’s the lesson for rivals like Sony and Samsung, which have repeatedly insisted they will catch up with the iPod? I think it’s this: an aspiring actress wouldn’t aim to make Nicole Kidman un-famous; she would try to make herself more famous, by winning attention in her own right - not inviting comparisons.
Of course doing that requires thinking to what people want, which isn’t trivial. But that’s why they have the big-bucks designers, right?
Update 21.40: for an example of someone (a) not having the big-bucks designers (b) trying to be more famous than Kidman while starring in the same film (figuratively speaking; Kidman is the proxy for the iPod, geddit?) look no further than Dell and its “ditty”. Easiest learnt about by reading John Gruber “Rhymes with Ditty“.
I reiterate my point: you aren’t going to win this game by doing the same thing.
- These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
- Sony completely loses the plot with "Network Walkman" (4 August 2004; score: 53.84%)
- Giant electronics company acquires small clue (23 September 2004; score: 48.09%)
- At last, Dave Winer is famous in Illinois, and all because of blocked email (26 August 2004; score: 44.26%)
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September 21st, 2005 at 3:33 pm
I think you may have missed the point here Charlesy - and dragged the Independent into missing it with you. The iPod is not successful because it is famous, it is famous because it is successful. People buy it becasue it is better designed, easier to use, smaller, and better integrated with an online music store than any of the competition, not because it’s ‘trendy’ and people are impressionable. Perhaps you should pick up a Nano yourself, and this mysterious phenomenum might become clearer to you. I do hope that wan’t your only thought for the day…
September 21st, 2005 at 5:06 pm
Adam, I don’t agree. Nicole Kidman became successful through her acting - but then acquired ‘celebrity’ for stuff not to do with her acting; she simply attracted it, as the top stars do, because she’s famous at something (acting) and built on it.
My point about the iPod is the same. Yes, it does things right, and has from the start. That’s like acting. But there are lots of good actors out there who become ‘a bit famous’ but don’t go stratospheric. Kidman is now a name that gets used to sell films (some not very good). The iPod has acquired ‘name’ status in its own right, and I’d argue in just the same way its fame goes beyond its usefulness.
And yes, I’ve had my hands on a nano, and used one quite a lot already. They scratch up pretty easily, but they’re nice bits of engineering. Personally I think something with a bigger capacity suits me, but you know, horses and courses…
September 21st, 2005 at 10:19 pm
Just a correction: iPod has already sold 22 million, not 15 million, as stated by SJ at the nano intro. It may exceed 35 million before the end of CY2005.
September 23rd, 2005 at 10:33 pm
I find your mild mannered and polite reply to my essentially facetious post heart warming. I will meet you at least half way on this one! Though until someone else designes a player that is not a brick shaped iSore with menus from hell, the fame might be at least partly deserved. I’ll wait for the scratch proof one though. Now if someone were to design the first ever truly good mobile phone, that really would be something to shout about!