Sony Walkman Outsells IPod in Japan for First Time in 4 Years | Hacker News Reader

Sony Walkman Outsells IPod in Japan for First Time in 4 Years

bloomberg.com

7 pointsrams7 comments

So they fully admit that the iPhone "cannibalized iPod sales" but then said that they "didn't count the iPhone because the product is also a wireless handset." So all this is saying is that among mp3 devices sold that weren't also phones in the week of Aug 23 - 30, Sony had 43% and Apple had 42.1%, with no mention of what the +/- error was in the survey. While this might be an indication of a trend, it is also very likely to be statistically insignificant. But that doesn't make as interesting a news story.

Something I just thought about...I wonder why Apple/Sony/Microsoft/et al haven't tried the "console strategy" with music players. (The "console strategy" is where gaming console makers sell their hardware at an artificially low price, then make up the cost from software sales).

For example, Apple could tie an iPod to an account so that all songs are $1.29 on the iTunes store (instead of varying prices), then sell the iPods for very cheap. I think it would get more people hooked on the cheap up-front price, which would eventually be recouped from the music/video/software sales.

For one, it would require making very specific agreements with the music industry to support that price structure, and I don't think Apple trusts the music industry much.

But, more importantly, console games are much more difficult to pirate. Sure, you can do it, but it usually involves either soldering on a 3rd party chip or going through an in-game exploit + hacked ROM process, which most people aren't going to bother with.

The vast majority of those cheap iPods would just be full of downloaded music, and the hardware manufacturer would take a huge loss.

Also Apple/AT&T does basically take this approach with the iphone. Cheap phone if you sign up for service.

BTW this is more traditionally called the Razor blade (or Razor and Blade) model (cheap razor, expensive blades)

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/razor-razorblademodel.as...

Also known as the "printer-ink" model.

I wonder if they included the iphone in their "ipod" numbers? Even if the iphone doesn't completely replace an ipod it will as flash sizes increase.

The article says they intentionally did not count the iPhone in the iPod numbers.

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