What do you think of Sandisk's latest MP3 player the Sansa? It will go for about $250 with a 4GB flash storage but will be the first player to offer WiFi downloads of music. They have teamed up with Yahoo's online music store. In my opinion, adding WiFi sounds like a good thing but the news reports I read act as if it so revolutionary that it will change the MP3 market. Just think, you will not need a computer to download songs, just an open WiFi connection. Except that if you have a home WiFi network then you probably have a computer. So maybe the market is for people who hang out at airports where they have open WiFi networks. Now all you need to do is drive to your nearest airport with your Sansa, pay $2/hr for parking and download your music without a computer to your Sansa. Of course the other option would be to use a WiFi sniffer program, drive aroung town until you find an open WiFi network and then download direct. But wait, most sniffer programs require a computer. Ok, so maybe it isn't all that revolutionary. Maybe they just wanted to beat Apple to the punch with the WiFi before the iPhone comes out.
3 comments:
Stitch, this is a very typical move for a competitor. MS did it (albeit between Zunes, not to buy music) and now SanDisk is doing it. Apple has had a long time to add Wi-Fi to their devices. In fact, the iPhone which connects to the internet, may or may not have that ability - if Apple thought it were the best thing to do, they probably would have announced it on huge banners! I think you hit the nail on the head - is there a compelling reason to have that ability on your MP3 player? That's very debatable! This is another example of a competitor playing catch up, but trying to beat Apple to the punch. In other words, Apple sets the standard, so they try to be Apple-like. "Apple will probably add this ability, so we're going to do it first!" It would appear to me that Apple may add this functionality only if it does not interfere with the primary purpose, which is to take your tunes with you. Otherwise, Apple won't add the feature!
Plus there is a cost to add a feature. Now you need the Wi-Fi antenna, and you need to develop new software to make it work. But why go through this if the feature is a secondary feature which may not see much use.
Apple does a good job in trying not to be the Swiss army knife of features. Cell phones are a running joke where it has become a battle to add as many features as possible to a cell phone. Not necessarily based on the need but just because we can.
Of course the iPhone seems to be as close as Apple has come to having a Swiss Army knife device. But the features seem to be so well integrated that they do not seem like a hodgepodge of features thrown together before the release deadline of the cell phone.
Exactly - IF the device is incredibly easy to use, AND does all those functions extremely well, THEN the device is worth the full scale development costs! That's why I'm so darned excited about it. And from what I've been reading and hearing, there are a lot of people who are just as excited as I am.
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