Ipod

IPOD:CREATING AN ICONIC BRAND[i] INTRODUCTION

In the few short years since its introduction, the iPod portable digital music player had become a true cultural and social phenomenon. It was both a ubiquitous design icon and an indispensable piece of personal technology for over 50 million iPod owners. In the first quarter of 2006, which corresponded with the holiday season, Apple sold 14.1 million iPods —that was more than two per second of every waking hour during those three months. In January 2006, the company’s family of digital music players owned a 78 percent share of the market for portable digital music players.

Apple reached this state of market domination through a combination of shrewd product innovation and clever marketing. The company continually updated the iPod and released new versions to the public. When the iTunes Music Store was launched, a dynamic duo of legally downloadable music and a cutting edge portable music player caused iPod sales to skyrocket. The product became indispensable to its users and spawned an “iPod economy” of third-party accessories and add-ons. Apple also developed memorable, creative advertising that helped drive the popularity of the iPod. The device had become so popular that numerous competitors lined attempted to dethrone it and be dubbed the “iPod killer.”

The question for Cupertino, the California-based company remained—Would they be able to sustain this competitive advantage, and for how long? Apple had a history of developing innovative technology and bringing it to the market first, only to be overtaken by competitors who offered similar products. Given the number of competitors in the digital music player space, and the fickle nature of technology consumers, Apple would have to stay a step ahead of competitors if it wanted the iPod to remain the industry standard.

APPLE’S HISTORY

Apple’s origins date back to 1974 when Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak met while working at a summer job at Hewlett-Packard. That...